Raised by Wild Dogs
by Consine
Summary: Life didn't exactly work out the first time around. Now she has a new face, a new name, and a new life. It's what some would call reincarnation. Or is it? Rated M for the occasional curse words and potential future violence.
1. Chapter 1

My day had begun normally. Dare I say, it was almost idyllic. For the first time in a long, long time I had awakened to a boyfriend sharing my space. Even so, he wasn't just any boyfriend. This one had proposed to me. I even had the ring to prove it.

We were on a camping trip up in the mountains, miles away from anything and anyone. It was our way of celebrating. I guess he hadn't been certain I would accept his proposal. It was mostly because I really hadn't known him for very long. Just a few months ago, I had been single. The romance was, but it was the first luck I'd had with love in years. I figured, finally, for the first time, love was on my side. I was relieved. To be blunt, I'd had more bad dates than I could count. Dating sites seemed to be filled only with leeches, mama's boys, and married men after you reached a certain age.

Sadly, this perfect moment was not to last. Like I said before, I really have lousy luck with love. The worst. I should have seen it coming. I used to think that the guy who dated me and didn't tell me he was married was the lowest scumbag on the face of the planet, but I was wrong.

I'm a little sketchy on the details, but I know we were on a hike through the woods. Then my fiance, that bastard, he grabbed me and knocked me out with some kind of chemical. Thankfully I wasn't awake for what came next. To be blunt, I don't want to know what he did.

* * *

When I next woke, everything was strange, blurry, as if I'd been pumped full of psychotropics. Everywhere I looked in the moonlit woods there were trees. They weren't unfamiliar trees, but they weren't familiar either. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear a dog barking, but it wasn't the same bark I recognized from my dog. I was out flat on my back, and I couldn't figure out how to get up. What I saw, what I heard, all came to me as if through some kind of haze. I was having trouble focusing on the woods around me.

I had a vague recollection even in my confusion that this, all of this was my fiance's fault. At least, I was alive. Had he drugged me? I was finding moving exceptionally difficult as if my limbs were all weighed down, and I had no idea how long I had been out. Perhaps I had fallen while under the effects of mind altering drugs? A concussion? Worse yet, why couldn't I remember my fiance's name? I needed to remember because I was going to report his ass to the police. Just as soon as I could figure out how to stand up.

Next to me, I saw a flicker of light, and I forced my eyes to move since the rest of me sluggishly refused. There was a man I didn't know to my left with a syringe in his right hand that sparkled faintly in the moonlight. For some reason, he seemed huge to me. More like a giant than a man. He smirked at me, then spoke, but his words made no sense. It sounded like a different language. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

A pale, thin, and horribly huge hand reached out and his thumb briefly brushed against my cheek. I struggled to make out his features, and for a moment I could pick out yellow eyes lined with purple, framed by long, dark-colored hair. He looked disturbingly like someone I had seen before, but I struggled to place the face with a name. Why was I having so much trouble thinking?

The dogs were growing closer, and, even in my confused haze, I sensed that their nearness concerned him. He rose from his crouch next to me, the syringe in his hand disappearing with a flick of his fingers. Then with a few more strange words in his seemingly foreign tongue, he disappeared into the darkness. I say disappeared because he didn't walk away. It was more like he had melted into the night like an ink stain absorbed by the shadows. A whisper, a bit of ethereal flicker, and then nothing.

It occurred to me then that I should be afraid of what I had just seen, but I wasn't. Cold logic demanded me to consider this scenario calmly. Panic would do me no good. Perhaps I was having some wild dream caused by drugs or severe trauma? I tried closing my eyes tightly and counting to ten like I did when coming out of a deep meditation.

When I opened my eyes again, unfortunately, nothing around me had changed. Though I willed myself to wake, I didn't, and I still couldn't move. It was almost like I was wrapped in some kind of cocoon or a blanket.

Just then, the sound of the dogs was to my left, and a moment later several great beasts ran past me in pursuit. At first glance, I thought they looked a bit like wolves. They too were monstrously huge, just as the man had been. Another enormous dog burst from the woods to my right, the leaves crunching under paw as it pranced up to my prone form. It took all I had to shift a little to watch the great dog. Just its snout was close to the size of half my face.

It came close to me and began to snuffle my body, before giving my face a couple small licks. I blinked but found I couldn't quite laugh at the ticklish feeling. What came out of my mouth was more like a soft 'ehh' sound. This single thing broke through my haze of logical consideration long enough to actually make me feel some blossoming of concern.

This dream, no, nightmare was feeling all too real, and I wanted to wake up. I tried again to will myself back to reality, but after clenching my eyes closed again and thinking as hard as I could, I found that the dog still stood there over me when next I squinted out at the world. The creature looked up as the dry leaves on the forest floor crunched again, and I felt my whole world shift as giant hands scooped me out of the arboreal debris.

A woman with wild hair and a strange, red triangle marking on her cheeks was looking over me with a frown that certainly seemed displeased. Like the man before, she was eerily familiar. Her lips were pressed firmly together, the corners downturned in a scowl, and she clicked her tongue and sucked air in through her teeth as she studied me.

After this moment of consideration, I found myself cradled in the crook of her arm, and the world was flashing by at a dizzying rate as she ran and leaped through the woods. I struggled a little in her arms, but my limbs felt weak and barely moved. I tried to cry out to her, tried to convince this wild giantess to put me down, but all that came out was sobs and unintelligible howling on my part. Eventually, I passed out from the effort.

It took me several more hours to realize what was going on. You see, I never awoke from the nightmare no matter what I tried, but most telling was where I found myself come morning. I was in a crib, right next to what was clearly an infant. An infant who was about the same size as me.

As it all clicked into place, a sort of slow horror and dread settled into my gut. I was a baby, and I didn't understand how. Had my fiance killed me? I didn't remember dying. I wasn't sure what or how this had happened, but the passing of hours and then days soon made me admit that I was no longer in an adult body. So I concluded that this was probably reincarnation.

It was fascinating. It would have been more fascinating if I wasn't scared silly. You see, I had begun to hook names with faces. Orochimaru - that was the name of the man who had left me in the woods. I was certain of it, even though another part of my brain laughed and reminded me that anime was just silly stories.

See, I really didn't want to believe that I had been reincarnated into an anime that I once to watch in college. It was preposterous! However, with time and monotony, even the most ridiculous situation can become normal. After all, I had precious little to do but eat, sleep, and stare at the ceiling those first few months.


	2. Chapter 2

Yes, initially, I was not happy at finding myself reborn. There was the whole realization that I had lost my previous life, the disbelief at what had happened, and the anger with how it had happened all clinging to me. Fortunately, as a newborn, no one questioned any crying and fussing so I was free to express my bitter disappointment loudly and as often as needed for my mental health. Even so, I really missed being able to complain using words. The other baby I was sharing space with wasn't exactly someone I could talk to about my problems since we both weren't actually capable of speech.

Still, I acclimated and eventually began to come to terms with things. I was generally a positive person, so I tried to look at the good things about my new situation. I had a second chance at life here. I had wished a few time in my last life for the ability to go back and change various decisions while knowing what I knew as an adult. Well, this wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I concluded that this was almost like having that wish granted. I didn't get to go back in time, but I did get to try again with all my adult knowledge. It was a weird but not unwelcome opportunity. The one gray cloud in my positive spin was that I had a strong feeling that 'bad things' were coming to this world, but I was a bit confused on the details. It had been years since I'd watched that anime, but I did recall lots of fighting and various characters dying. Just considering it was not a comfortable thought.

The other infant I was sharing space with was a slightly cranky, little brown haired cutie named Kiba. His mother Tsume was the wild looking woman who had scooped me out of the woods that night. I was a little confused on the details as to how I ended up in her care, but, on some level, it simply didn't matter.

Tsume was out of the house a lot. At a year old, I still wasn't entirely clear on the reasons why though I guessed it was likely due to her work as a ninja. It wasn't much of a problem though because there was also an older sister named Hana who watched over us. She couldn't have been more than six or seven, but I approved of her babysitting skills. When Hana was away at school, someone else in the clan would take care of us, or we'd be left with canine babysitters. It sometimes amused me to think that I was being raised by a pack of wild dogs.

As far as I could tell, there was no father around the house, and I was too young to ask why. There was one man who seemed like maybe he was supposed to be Dad, but he was more than a little scared of Tsume. I honestly couldn't blame him.

As a matter of course, Kiba and I spent a lot of our time together. Neither of us had quite figured out the talking thing yet. We both understood a lot of simple words now, but using our baby mouths to make the right sounds was horribly difficult. I might have learned a bit faster if I was just relearning English, but this was definitely Japanese.

The two of us had developed our own language of a sort. It was a combination of pointing, nodding, baby gurgling, laughter, and arm waving that helped us play well together. We were both attempting to walk these days, but Kiba was better at that than me. Partially because he was a couple months older than me and partially because the kid really wanted to walk everywhere. He would find his footing and zoom off a few feet before falling backward or forward. If he fell very hard the eruption of tears and shrieks was ear shattering. I, on the other hand, was content to hold onto a hand or a ledge or any other surface, take a few steps, and call it quits. Crawling was still more efficient and less likely to cause pain.

After one of his falls, Kiba would calm if I gave him a hug or sat with him for a little while. It was the same old trick I had used when I had worked with young kids while teaching in my last life. As long as they felt safe, noticed, and cared for, even the wildest ones would grow calmer and gentler. Besides, this kind of premeditated intervention kept me from getting bored playing with baby toys. It gave me purpose and a goal. Some days, when all I could think about were the negatives of this second chance, a purpose kept me from losing my mind.

* * *

Another year passed, and we were both walking and talking. I could ask questions of those around me, get dressed mostly on my own, and even run and play. I was a little clumsy at the running and playing, so sometimes I had a hard time keeping pace with Kiba. I'd also made a point of trying to get myself potty trained as soon as possible. Maybe I wasn't as coordinated or as fast as Kiba, but I was on the cusp of being able to go without diapers. I was looking forward to this milestone. The one kink was waking up to use the bathroom at night. I guessed my tiny body just wasn't sending the wake-up signal to my brain quite yet.

Kiba was a good older brother. I'd always wanted an older brother in my last life, and though he was only a couple months older than me he took the job very seriously. Tsume helped with this. Whenever she would leave the house for one of her extended missions for the village, she would charge Kiba with looking out for me, and he would seriously swear the toddler equivalent of a blood oath in reply.

As for the language, well, I was catching on perhaps a little faster than was normal for my age, but it was nothing unusual. Sure, my thought processes were more adult, but there were real physical limitations. For example, I knew in theory how to use chopsticks, but that didn't mean I could actually pull off the physical motion again without practicing. When it came to language, I was certainly capable of more complex thoughts, but I didn't have the vocabulary to express these thoughts yet. Maybe that would have been different if I was born into an English speaking second life, but it was what it was.

The one real gift the rebirth gave me was the advantage of greatly advanced abilities in logic and thought. When the adults were talking around us, I not only understood, but I could often piece together the bits of things that were left unsaid. If you've ever been around kids, you'll have heard parents do that thing where they don't finish a sentence but just give the other adults a look and a cryptic few words. Of course, all the adults know what it means, but the kids are usually blissfully ignorant. In my case, I almost always understood.

As a result, I knew that there was something weird about my origins, the exact details of which were still obscured from me. Of course, I wasn't supposed to know or understand this. I certainly wasn't supposed to be capable of remembering being dumped in the woods as an infant either. I still didn't know why Orochimaru of all people had left me there before running, and I wasn't really fully aware of how I ended up staying with Tsume after she found me. Even so, I was grateful that I hadn't been left helpless and alone as an infant or dumped at the village orphanage. The Inuzuka's were my family - even if it wasn't by blood. After all, they had named me and were raising me. I might not be one of them, but, at this point, that was just a technicality.

Besides, I wasn't going to cross Tsume. Once, when we were at the park, I overheard another mother mention something to Tsume about how I really wasn't her child. For a few moments, I honestly thought she was going to beat the offending woman right into the ground. Like one of the many Inuzuka dog's, she bared her teeth, snarled a line about how I was part of her pack, and pretty much dared the woman to fight her if she disagreed. Nope, I wasn't going to even suggest to Tsume any negative feelings or misgivings I had about being one of the family. Clearly, she had decided I was. It was good enough for her, and if it was good enough for her it had better damn well be good enough for everyone else. So, yes, I guess I was an abandoned child with a sketchy past, but I didn't feel that way because I was loved and accepted by this strange family.

The Inuzuka's had named me Nora. I eventually figured out that it basically meant 'stray' - as in a stray dog. Considering more than one family member had loosely dog-themed names, I thought it was strangely fitting, and I rather liked it. I mean, honestly, it could be way worse. They could have named me paw or snout.

"Nora, Nora! Nora play now!" Kiba tugged on Hana's pant leg. I was up on Hana's lap as she braided my wispy baby hair back to keep it out of my face. It was a lighter color than the dark brown common in the clan, but it was darkening as I grew older. Tsume had begun to remark recently to Hana about how I was starting to look like an Inuzuka. My eyes had always been a dark brown, and with my hair following suit I might one day fit in almost seamlessly. I doubted I would ever be quite as rough and tumble as my adoptive family.

"Just a moment, Kiba-tan," Hana replied with a hint of laughter in her voice as she tied off my braid and gave it a final light tug. "There. Now you two can go play." She sat me down on my feet next to Kiba, just as the front door careened open on its hinges and hit the opposite wall. Kiba and I both jumped.

"Yo, brats, I'm home!" Tsume grinned widely as she announced her arrival like she was some kind of rock star. Behind me, I could hear Hana laughing sardonically, as our wild mother shrugged off her flak jacket.

"Mommy!" Kiba yelled, and, grabbing my hand in his, we exchanged grins between the two of us before charging around the couch to hug Tsume around the knees.

"Whoah. Attack of the minis. You two chibis miss me?" Tsume squatted as we released our grip on her lower half, patting our heads as she flashed a wide grin.

I nodded my head up and down rapidly as I replied, "Yes! And Kuromaru, too!"

"Ack!" Hana suddenly exclaimed as she hopped over the couch and grabbed her bag, "I forgot the time. I'm going to be late for the academy. Mom, can you…"

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'll get the pups where they need to be before I drag my tired arse up to the Hokage tower." Tsume groaned and rolled her eyes while tilting her chin towards the door to encourage Hana off to school. "We'll talk about the idiot when I get back."

'The idiot' was family slang for Hana and Kiba's distinctly absent father. I'd met the man a couple times now, but he always left in a hurry while doing the human equivalent of tucking his tail between his legs. His visits were becoming fewer and further between these days. I figured eventually he would stop showing up altogether.

With a nod, Hana was out the door at a jog, and Tsume was scooping the two of us up. Kiba ended up on her shoulders while I was settled into the crook of her arm, snuggled against Tsume's side. These were our usual spots. Kiba liked the high vantage point, and I liked to cuddle. Our personalities really weren't anything alike.

"Park, mommy, go park!" Kiba exclaimed, holding his hands up with his fingers spread and a huge grin on his face.

"Ahh, I see. You two were going to go play today. Was Hana going to send one of the Haimaru's with you?"

"Yup yup." I chimed in even while Kiba utterly ignored his mother's question.

The woman smirked down at me and sighed, "Well, at least you listen, Nora- chan. Guess I'll get you pups to one of the brothers then." Striding out into the bright daylight she added, "Kiba, you take good care of your little sister today. Promise."

"Promise!" Kiba cried out as he wiggled atop Tsume's shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time I was three years of age, life was a lot easier. For the record, children make some serious progress figuring out how to use their bodies between the ages of two and three, and it was no different for me. I pretty much made it to the bathroom when I needed to go, and I could talk in complete sentences and articulate myself fairly well.

Physically though, I had trouble keeping up with Kiba, but I was okay with that. Kiba wasn't the smartest boy, but he was fast and pretty stinking strong for a three-year-old. On the other hand, I was far too smart for a three-year-old so we pretty much balanced each other out. This also meant that we could get into the most amazing trouble. I would concoct the ideas, and Kiba would execute them.

"A little more to the left, and then just pull yourself up into the empty space."

Kiba grunted and shimmied along the topmost shelf of the kitchen pantry then pulled himself up. He could have just climbed up, but he would have knocked over containers as he went, leaving lots of evidence of our joint wrongdoing. This was a stealth operation. The goal was Tsume's emergency chocolate supply.

I clapped and giggled as he looked down with a wide grin. "We make a good team, Nora!"

"Duh, of course we do!" I replied with a wide grin. "Let's hurry and get the chocolate hidden in our room before mommy gets home!"

With a salute and another crooked grin, Kiba pried the lid off the chocolate and began tossing down bars and nougats to me one at a time. It felt a little like we were robbing some kind of high-security bank, and I couldn't help but grin like a goofball the entire time as we hurried the chocolate back to our room and hid it in no less than a dozen different places. With my help, we returned the kitchen to just as it was and were innocently playing by the time Tsume made it back home.

It was nearly a full week before Tsume figured out what had happened to her 'secret' chocolate stash. It was Kiba's fault. Tsume caught him eating one of the chocolate bars right out in the open. Tsume dragged him out of our room with chocolate smeared along half of his face, and I looked up long enough to sigh and slap a hand on my face. It must have been comical because Hana nearly busted a gut laughing at my reaction. If not for my brother's dumb mistake, we would have gotten away free and clear with our heist. On the other hand, I now knew how a criminal genius felt every time one of his minions did something unspeakably stupid.

Of course, there was hell to pay after Tsume figured it out. We both got chewed out, because Tsume, of course, knew that I was the mastermind even if Kiba was the one caught with the chocolate. Our mother was scary when she was mad, but, even so, we both knew that the punishment wouldn't be that bad. Sure, we had to give her all our life savings as compensation, but considering we barely had enough to buy a bowl of ramen between the two of us it wasn't exactly a huge blow.

The real surprise came with the other half of our punishment.

"It's clear. You two need to start training. At least one of you is freaking bored." She turned and gave me a steady look through narrowed eyes. "And the other one has freaking too much energy." At this part, she glanced at Kiba.

"Training?! YES!" Kiba was excited, hopping up on both feet to jump up and down, "Yay! I'm going to be the strongest! That way I can protect Nora and Hana and Mommy and the whole village and the world and…"

Tsume rolled her eyes, leaning forward to grab Kiba in a silencing headlock that had my older brother wiggling desperately to escape, "You're gonna need a lot of training for all that, bucko." Her gaze then slid to me. I wasn't excited at all. If anything, I had a small frown on my face. "You two couldn't be more different…" Tsume chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Well, I ain't going to lie, the physical training will be hard for you, Nora. Hell, I'm not freaking equipped to train you. Gonna have to call in reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?" I asked, the uncertain frown never quite leaving my lips.

"Yeah. A friend of mine." Tsume winked at me, "I'll let him decide how to train you. Gotta get someone who can outrun that brain of yours. Trust me, you might even get as excited as Kiba about training once you meet him, so no more of that worried chibi frown." She chuckled, scooping me up into her lap and plopping Kiba down next to me. "And don't you two dare let me catch you stealing my chocolate again."

"I'm sorry, mommy!" Kiba exclaimed hugging the woman's middle.

I snuggled in against her too, a small smile on my lips as I asked, "So… we're allowed to steal it if you don't catch us?"

Kiba glanced at me, his eyes widening at my question, and Tsume burst into laughter. Bending down, she gave each of us a sloppy kiss on the forehead. "Hey, if I don't figure it out, how am I going to punish you, eh? But you'll have to be really sneaky. Your mommy's a ninja, you know."

* * *

Tsume had no real problems starting Kiba's training. He woke up and ran through the morning routine of washing, dressing, and breakfast eagerly. At the front door like a bouncing ball of energy every morning, he would wait impatiently for Tsume to help me pull myself together. Frankly, things were not going so well for me. I was exhausted, and every morning I was sore which made me cranky and sulky like a tiny dark storm cloud.

While Kiba was fast and strong with boatloads of stamina, I was a lot more average for a three-year-old. Sure, I had energy, but it petered out pretty quickly and then I was ready for a nap. While Tsume was encouraging Kiba to run longer, punch harder, or climb faster, she was also trying to encourage me to just stay awake for the duration of the physical training. I quickly lost count of the number of times I woke up riding on Tsume's back. She was pushing both Kiba and me to our limit, but our limits were completely different.

This lasted for about five days until one evening we had a guest appear at our house late in the evening. He was a tall man with black hair slicked back into a spiky ponytail on the crest of his skull. Unlike Tsume, he spoke slowly and quietly, and his smile was a subtle smirk.

"I'm damn glad you're back from your mission. I've got a problem. Decided to start training the chibis, you see."

The man lifted a brown and chuckled, "Yeah. Yoshino told me."

Tsume tipped her head back down the hallway and lead the man away. I guess she assumed that Kiba and I would stay distracted with the cartoons flashing across the television screen. We were both tired from training, but curiosity overrode my exhaustion as I pushed myself to my feet.

Kiba glanced at me as I got up, and I headed off like I was just going to the toilet. However, once his eyes were back on the television, I crept down the hall as quietly as my exhausted limbs would let me.

"Sounds like the physical isn't where her strengths are, Tsume. It's not like anyone can change that."

"Yeah, but was kind of hoping she'd bloom or something … ya know? Like she's part of our clan now. In this clan, not being good at physical stuff is like a Nara wanting to run laps like Gai all day long."

"I know you think of her as clan, but she's not, Tsume. You can't force her to do what's impossible. She's not an Inuzuka." I peeked into the room just in time to see Shikaku hold both his hands up in surrender as Tsume made a grab for his collar.

"Don't you dare…"

"Whoah, whoah, I'm not trying to yank your chain. This is just truth, Tsume. A truth you're going to have to come to terms with."

Releasing his collar with a huff, Tsume gave a sigh and rubbed a hand across her face, "Sorry, you're right. I know you're right, it's just… Dammit. What was I thinking back then? Maybe she would've been better off without…"

"No." Shikaku interrupted her with that single forceful word. "She would not have been better off without your family. Your clan was the only one with the guts to do what the rest of us were being whiny wimps about. I regret that someone didn't have the stomach to do the same for the Uzumaki child."

"Yeah, but he's …."

Shikaku suddenly held up a finger, interrupting Tsume. Then his lips tilted up in a smirk, and he turned to look right at me, "We have an audience."

"How long-?" Tsume began only to get a laugh out of Shikaku.

"Long enough. Someone should be training her in stealth. She probably listens in on a lot of your conversations, Tsume." He crouched down, crooking his finger to draw me forward.

I tipped my head at his gesture and looked at Tsume who gave a long sigh in response. "Come on in, kid. This is Shikaku. Nara Shikaku."

I gave the man a shy smile as I stepped into the room, offering a tiny curtsy as I introduced myself, "I'm Inuzuka Nora. Nice to meet your Nara-san."

"I did not freaking teach her that." Tsume grumbled at my polite mannerisms, and Shikaku's smirk widened.

"No, I can't imagine manners are high on your list of things to teach, but it shows that the kid pays attention and does what she thinks is best depending on the situation - regardless of what you've said or taught. She's thinking for herself." Turning back to me, his smile faded and he gestured me closer. From his crouched position his gaze was almost level with my own, and he studied me for a long moment as I looked up at him. It was a little nerve-wracking, but he didn't seem like a bad person. I tried to surreptitiously watch Tsume out of the corner of my eye, too. She had a strange expression on her face, and it was vaguely worrisome.

After a few minutes, he grunted softly and glanced up at Tsume. "I'll need a moment alone with her - not that I don't trust you, but the kid seems kind of worried by that face you're making." I blinked, surprised that he had noticed, and he smirked faintly at me as he added, "Every time you blink, kid, you try to sneak a look at Tsume, and each time you get a little tenser. Heh. Kind of cute though."

Tsume sighed and ran her hand through her hair, scowling at Shikaku as she did so. "Fine. Fine. I'll go wait in the living room." She sighed again, "What am I supposed to say to Kiba?"

"Poop, mommy!" I exclaimed, and I flashed my mother a really big grin at the incredulous look she offered in return. "A really really really really -" I spread my small arms wider with each word, "big poop."

Shikaku snorted and sat down hard on his butt, a hand covering his face as he laughed, shoulders shaking. Tsume stared at me a moment longer then snorted herself, running a hand across her mouth to hide her grin, "Sure kiddo. A really, really big poop. Got it. He'll totally buy that reason, too." Shaking her head, Tsume shot me a thumbs up as she pulled the door closed behind her on her way out.


	4. Chapter 4

Shikaku wiped tears of laughter from his eyes as he stuffed his amusement back down inside himself. "I think we'll get along great, Nora." Snickering under his breath he added softly, "Poop," and then sniggered a little more before clearing his throat. "I do want to have a serious conversation though. Do you know why I'm here?"

"Because I'm really bad at training," I replied, plopping down to sit with him on the floor. "Like, really bad." I sighed, crinkling up my nose. "Mommy mentioned that she needed reinforcements for training me. You're that, right?"

"Reinforcements." Shikaku rolled his eyes at the word, "Yeah, basically. Besides, it's not that you're bad at training. It's that your bad at Tsume's training. Running, jumping, kicking, punching - it's an Inuzuka thing."

"And I'm not an Inuzuka." I said softly, then I winced and covered my mouth looking up at Shikaku with wide eyes, "Don't tell mommy I know that. She'd get super upset."

Shikaku gave me a pat on the head, smoothing my hair as he offered me a small smile, "I won't tell her you know. Still, you're not surprised or upset. You must have known before overhearing us tonight."

"Well, it's obvious," I replied with a small nod. "I don't look like the rest of the clan. My skin's paler, and my hair is a lighter brown. I also don't have the markings on my face. Plus, most of the clan are good at what I'm bad at and bad at what I'm good at. Besides, it would be physically impossible for Tsume to have given birth to me two months after Kiba without something weird happening. So, there's all those things, plus, if I ever had any doubt, adults talk a lot. They say things thinking I won't understand, but I do."

Shikaku grimaced at the last part of my explanation and clicked his tongue, giving me a sigh as he looked me over, "Yeah. Some adults are idiots, aren't they?"

"Yes." I gave him a single nod, "About all I can do when they're saying bad things is stick my fingers in my ears and yell, 'Lalalalala!' - but that's kind of weird so I don't."

"So instead you listen and learn things from them - even if they're bad things."

"Exactly, Shikaku-san."

The corners of his lips curled in a small smile. "And you also helped Kiba steal Tsume's chocolate."

"Well, he couldn't do it by himself. He would have wrecked the kitchen. It was like - damage control with chocolate benefits at the end."

"Ahh, so public service, basically."

"Yes. Um, so … are you going to be training me instead of Tsume?" I jumped ahead, curious and eager to know where this conversation was headed and was rewarded with a mysterious little smile.

"Hmm, well, not instead of, but in addition, yes. See, my son needs someone to train with who's closer to his age. This won't be physical training - this will be training your mind. It's a kind of training I think you'll like better. Of course, you can't just stop doing physical training, so you'll do that too, but I'll talk to Tsume about making your physical training something that's more … reasonable."

"Reasonable is good!" I gushed, my relief so obvious that Shikaku chuckled and gave my head another pat.

"Plus, your brother will come, too. He'll probably be terrible at mental training, but it's only fair." Waggling his brows faintly, he added, "Won't it feel good to be better at something than Kiba?"

I nodded eagerly at this question, a wide smile blossoming across my face. "Yes! Thank you, Shikaku-san. You're my third favorite person in the whole world now!"

"Third…" He nodded thoughtfully, "Not bad. I'll take that spot."

* * *

Frankly, a little physical training was hardly the worst thing in my life right now. No, my biggest worry at three years of age was what I was beginning to forget.

I remembered reading before I died about those who had said they were reincarnated. Some were stories about their lives before, and others were mere impressions about what it was like living as someone who could remember a past life. The thing I remember best was that, with time and age, the memories of the past life usually began to fade.

Unfortunately for me, this appeared to be true. At three years old, I hadn't yet fully grasped writing so recording anything was a challenge. I knew that my memories of my past life were fading, but writing more than a few awkward characters with a big crayon was beyond my abilities or what was even normal for a child my age. I was still very much an adult mind inside of a child's body with knowledge of things I shouldn't know at my age, but I was also slowly losing bits and pieces of memory from my prior life. I tried clinging to the really important bits as well as I could - stuff like the fact I was murdered and that Orochimaru was important.

My most vivid memories of my past life were often in dreams. Some days, I had trouble discerning what had really happened in the past and what was a dream my mind had constructed. Other days, everything was clear and I could remember the faces of family, the location of places, and even the exact details of a particular day. Then there were days where all I could recall were vague impressions like an echo of an experience that I had struggled through before.

I was having one of those latter moments right now. It was my first mental training session with Shikaku, and he was running Kiba and me through a series of tests to judge our individual abilities. For this portion, he had sat me down in front of a board with a series of squares and a selection of white pieces. Opposite me was Shikamaru, the man's son. The boy seemed only half awake but had grown more alert as we had played the game.

This game, shogi, was eerily familiar. In my mind, I had strange, dream-like memories of playing something called chess. That game had a checkered two colored board and black and white pieces. I could even recall some of the rules to it in my head, but it was not exactly the same game as the one set before me. Still, there were significant similarities between what I remembered and how the pieces moved in shogi.

The result of this strange, hazy knowledge was that I was learning how to play faster than Shikaku had anticipated. Without him explaining it, I had already grasped that the main point of the game was to protect your king while capturing the king of the opposing player.

Shikamaru, who basically looked like a tiny clone of his father Shikaku, had gone from bored to alert to frustrated in the span of the last half an hour playing against me. Meanwhile, Kiba was nearly in hysterics to my right, dramatically freaking out each time I didn't make the move he thought I should make. On the left side, Shikaku sat in alert silence, an amused smile curving his lips as he watched the game unfold.

"Nora! You could take his piece! Look, look!" Kiba wailed dramatically as I failed to take Shikamaru's bait.

"But if I do that, he can take this piece. Which means I would be leaving an opening for…" I found myself calmly explaining my strategy in my teacher voice once again. It was automatic. I might have been reborn, but, after years of working as a teacher in my previous life, no question could go unanswered. Especially, if I knew I had the correct answer.

"Mmmm." Shikaku muttered next to me, "But you're not playing to win either."

"Well, this is my first time playing this. I don't understand the game well enough yet to win. So, if I know I can't win outright, there is only one choice."

"Be as annoying as possible?" Shikamaru muttered as he gnawed at his lower lip. I laughed at the expression on his face but shook my head.

"No, not that, well, not just that. The annoying part is kind of an added bonus, but, yeah. So, if I can't win outright, my only option is to play for a stalemate. Maybe I can't win, but if I can tie, then that's just as good."

"And live to fight another day." Shikaku muttered under his breath, reaching out a hand to pat my head, "Good plan. You can't always win. So if you can't win and can't retreat, but defeat is unacceptable, a tie is just as good as a win."

"But it's not a win!" Kiba cried out dragging his hands through his hair in a frustrated gesture just like Tsume's.

Shikaku laughed loudly and nudged his son from under the table with his foot. "You know what your next move is, unless you're going to give her an opening - you might as well give Nora her stalemate. Just two more moves, after all." Leaning back on his palms, he glanced between Shikamaru and me with a wide grin, "Nice work you two. Kiba, you're up against Shikamaru-kun next."

"Awesome! I'll show you, Nora! I can take this dweeb down!" Kiba declared hopping to his feet and pointing at Shikamaru with a wide grin.

Kiba's game didn't last long. Within five minutes, Shikamaru had cornered Kiba's king and the game was effectively over before it had even begun. Kiba's shocked silence as he stared at the board was almost pitiful.

"It's okay, big brother." I spoke up with a small smile, "I bet you can run faster than Shika-kun."

"Yeah! I'm definitely faster than you!" His gaze snapped up and he pointed at Shikamaru. "I challenge you to a race."

The dark haired boy stared at Kiba for a moment and then groaned rolling back to lay spreadeagle on the floor as he muttered, "No thanks. Let's not and just say you won the race we didn't do."

"See, Kiba!?" I chimed with a bright grin, "You already won! That was easy!"

Shikaku broke out in a loud laugh as Kiba gave a frustrated grunt, "But … but what about actually, you know, racing?"

It took Shikaku several minutes to regain his composure as he snickered into the hand that covered his mouth, "Okay, that's enough for strategy and planning. Let's move on to basic logic. Then we can test your chakra control. After that, I'll know enough to be able to decide what direction to take your training in."

"Logic training?" Kiba blurted out on a dejected sigh, "But my brain hurts already! Chakra control sounds cool, but … logic?"

"Logic is an essential ninja skill. Every squad should have at least one ninja who is skilled in it, just like every squad ought to have at least one medic-nin and one good fighter." Shikaku explained calmly, glancing over at me as I leaned forward eagerly.

"So, um," I blurted out, "how are you going to measure our logic?" I was quietly fascinated by this series of tests we had been put through. So far, it had been a series of different games. There had been a treasure hunt when we first arrived, presumably to judge our ability to follow instructions. Then Shikaku had thrown increasingly complex mathematical equations at us in the form of a competition to see how fast we could give the correct verbal answer using only mental math Then we'd moved on to shoji, but, clearly, the man wasn't done with us yet.

"Puzzles - word, numerical, and kinetic - it could be you'll be better at one over another. I don't think you're ready to start with material conditional phrases… at least not yet." Giving me a wink, Shikaku stood and gestured for us to follow him over to a shelf that was stuffed full of everything from jigsaws and puzzle boxes to riddles and sudoku-like gamebooks. "Pick whichever one you'd like to start with."

Kiba responded to Shikaku by pulling down the easiest looking jigsaw he could find and upending the whole box on the floor next to him. Meanwhile, I flitted from one puzzle to the next. I loved puzzles, and this shelf was puzzle heaven. After a moment, Shikamaru trudged up next to me and pointed out a small wooden box, "Do that one. It's fun."

Peeking out from under my bangs at the boy, I grinned and gave a small shrug as I picked up the box. I knew just from seeing the way it was constructed that this was one of those infamous puzzle boxes and the only way to open it was moving the pieces in just the right sequence. I again had that vague recollection that I had done a puzzle very much like this in the past, and without thinking about it I ran my hands over the entire box as I settled down on the floor, looking for any piece that was looser than another.

As a piece in the base slid out with no resistance, I paused, suddenly feeling a chill run up my spine as a strong sense of deja vu had me moving my fingers to another point on the box and sliding out a second piece as if I knew exactly what to do next. In my mind's eye, I could almost see my hands turning the box before they did as I picked a third piece and slid that into position. It was almost as if I had done this puzzle before. Still, even if I knew this puzzle from before and could recall the solution still, why was this so clear while other memories grew foggier by the day?

Shikamaru, who had sat down just next to me while I worked on the puzzle, had gone eerily still. His silence caused me to look up and then I noticed Shikaku staring at me with a lifted brow and pensive frown. The only one who hadn't noticed the sudden silence was Kiba, who was grumbling at the puzzle in front of him.

"Argh!" My brother twisted the puzzle piece around in his hand as he tried to shove it into the spot he had chosen, "Why won't it fit! It's the right color, isn't it?! Um, Shikaku-san, is this puzzle broken?"

In that instant, I chose to move the wrong piece on the puzzle box, even though I could see the next correct move. My mistake seemed to jolt Shikaku out of watching me, and he turned to Kiba to reply, "No, it's not broken. A different piece goes there. Keep looking."

Puffing out my cheeks, I breathed out a sigh as Shikamaru muttered, "You're good at this."

"Eh? Am I?" I asked, reminding myself to smile calmly as I looked up at the boy.

"Yeah. Three correct moves in a row - on that box…" He shrugged again, "No one's that lucky on a first try. There are at least 15 possible moves each time, which means your odds of successfully making three correct moves in a row is… uh…" Shikamaru's nose scrunched up, and he looked up at the ceiling as he tried to work out the calculation in his head.

"Three-tenths of a percent," Shikaku's calm voice provided the final calculation before his son could come up with it, "Well, slightly less if you don't round up, but it really doesn't matter. Of course, some moves can be eliminated just with logic, but … No, nevermind. Continue, Nora. I'm curious to see how long the box will take you."

"Okay, then," I replied, but for the first time that day, I decided a little cheating to fudge my score downward was probably a wise idea. Something about the expression on Shikaku's face worried me.

A/N: Things are about to get very interesting for Nora! Thank you all for following this fic, and I hope to have the next chapter to you very soon. ^_^


	5. Chapter 5

By the time I was almost four I had reached the point of being a nearly fully functional human. I was most relieved to finally be ditching diapers, but it also made me feel better to be able to have full control over a host of other little things such as picking my own clothes, going on short outings in town without an adult, and having enough vocabulary to fully communicate my thoughts. I was still mastering writing, but I had the dexterity now to hold a pencil and form characters that were at least legible.

At some point, I had begged Tsume for enough money to buy myself a small, blank book. Ostensibly, it was meant to be used as a diary, and I guess that's what Tsume though I was using it for. I even had begun to refer to it as my diary if it came up in conversation. What I really used it for was recording the increasingly fleeting echoes of my past life. Sometimes I drew pictures, which weren't exactly beautiful pieces of art - but they got the point across. Other times I would write carefully in English. I say carefully because I had to concentrate when I was writing. While my mind remembered how to write the letters, my hands weren't used to the actual action, but the more I practiced the easier it became.

It was like finding an old machine all gummed up with dust and debris, cleaning it out, and coaxing it back to life. The end result was immensely satisfying. I even found that some of my memories became clearer the more I wrote. On the other hand, writing in English not only kept my outlandish ramblings firmly to myself, but it was also strangely isolating. It's not like I could talk about these epiphanies of memory with anyone around me.

Sometimes after I wrote out whatever memories I had recalled of my prior life, the sadness really settled in, and I wouldn't be able to stop the tears. The crying mystified Tsume, but she usually just let me cry it out and then would take me to get some ice cream. If that failed, Kiba's adorable demands to tell him where the boo-boo was usually were enough to make me start laughing, banishing the tears back into the dark corner deep within my heart.

This creeping loneliness wasn't the only cause for tears. The weird double vision phenomenon I'd experienced that first training session with Shikaku had occurred dozens of time since then in a variety of different ways and places. Sometimes it was useful, sometimes it was confusing, and sometimes it gave me the creeps for days. At first I thought it was just memories of similar occurrences in my last life, but, usually, that wasn't enough to explain what I was experiencing.

At first, it wasn't that bad, but as the year went on, my episodes grew increasingly intense. Now, whenever it would activate, I would end up with a migraine level headache and nausea that would leave me barely able to function. I guessed that it somehow stemmed from the mental strain of trying to separate what was real and what was just my ghostly second sight. At one point, Tsume had me in the Konoha Hospital for a battery of tests to see if they could figure out why I was a miserable, headachey ball of queasiness and spite, but the results were 'inconclusive' which is just a nice way of saying they didn't know jack shit about how to help me.

I tried my best to power through so as not to overly worry my family, but, as I approached four years in age, the double vision that I experienced was increasingly frequent alongside the debilitating effects. It was also unpleasant in a different way. This second vision was horribly real, even offering me sensations beyond just my sight. Sadly, most of what I saw wasn't clever ways to solve cute puzzle boxes. No, much of what I saw with my second vision was truly horrible. You try calmly shopping with your mother at the grocery store while the Kyuubi rages and murders people around you. Sure, it wasn't real, but it looked and smelled very real to me with the tang of blood in the air, the smell of smoke, and the screams of people long dead. At first, it had just happened some of the time, but these days, almost every trip to the grocery store, I got to watch the same awful scene unfold again and again. Frankly, I really hated grocery shopping these days.

On a more positive note, I had also spent a lot of time with Shikamaru and Shikaku over the past year. To Kiba's delight and the Nara's horror, the quiet boy got dragged into our Inuzuka physical training sessions. Depending on their schedule and missions, Shikaku and Tsume would take turns training the three of us. Shikamaru was, thankfully, just as bad at Tsume's sessions as I was, but it was nice to have someone struggling along next to me while Tsume pressed Kiba on to the next goal.

"Ugh." I sighed and picked at my clothes. It was mid-summer and Konoha was humid and sticky. "It's disgusting out here. I just want a bath."

"Same," Shikamaru muttered as he let himself slide down a tree trunk into a sitting position. We were both still panting from running the required twenty laps for the day. Granted, we had both improved. At first, I'd only been able to run five.

I flopped down next to Shikamaru with a weary sigh, "I don't think I can move anymore. I don't know how Kiba does it. Forty laps. And so fast."

"Your brother's a monster."

I giggled at Shikamaru's assessment. "He is pretty ridiculous."

"Actually, you're both monsters, just different kinds."

"Eh?" I turned on Shikamaru with a wrinkled nose, leaning into his face with a pout, "I'm not a monster!"

"Says the girl who almost beat my dad at shogi the other day." He grumbled a little as he added, "I want to beat my father before you do."

I blinked as I watched his face transform into a disgruntled frown. Then I began to giggle, leaning back on my hands as I grinned at Shikamaru. He was the closest thing I had to a friend. Brothers don't count, obviously. "I guess that means you're a monster, too! The same kind as me!"

"Nah, you're a girl version. You're way creepier."

"What? You think I have girl cooties or something?"

He paused and glanced at me from the corner of his eye, "Maybe. At least you're not like the other girls - the ones with bows and stupid dresses and … Yeah. You have fewer girl cooties. Your mom, too, definitely fewer cooties. Meh." He shrugged and then added, "I guess I'm saying you're okay or … whatever. Less annoying than most girls."

"Thanks." I chimed in my high pitched little girl voice, "I like you too, Mr. Grumpy-pants. You don't have as many boy cooties as those other boys. Like my brother, yuuuuck."

He snorted and waved a hand at me, a wordless signal to just shut up already. I was more than happy to oblige. I liked the silence between the two of us that came after training hard. Leaning back, I pulled the small bag I brought to training closer to me. Shikamaru's eyes were closing, the siren call of sleep pulling him in with its indomitable grasp, and soon there would be little noise except the sounds of his breathing and the whispers of nature.

I kept the blank book with my English ramblings, the quote-on-quote diary, with me most days. Smoothing open the pages, I turned to where I had left off, my eyes flicking up to the words I had painstakingly written early this morning.

* * *

 _I dreamt again of my old life last night. It all seems more and more like a dream and less like the truth, but I'm still certain that I really did live before. These words that I'm writing now are proof enough of that. A language I did not learn in this life. Written characters that are not used in the world I now know. This small thing is hard evidence of what I sometimes doubt._

 _Last night's dream was of my family. My mother and father were quite old, and I had two younger sisters. I think I was older when I died though my exact age eludes me. I can recall working several jobs and being unhappy with most of them. I think, perhaps, I was lost and didn't know what to do with myself. In my dream, or perhaps I should call it an echo of past memories, my father was telling me how I should find a 'real' job then later my mother was telling me to follow my dreams. I guess I was getting conflicting messages from them._

 _In a way, I'm glad that my future job is already decided here. It seems like it was an annoying thing in my last life. I will be a ninja because that is what all clan children become. I guess some people would find the idea of being a ninja scary, but to me it's exciting. It's not because I like danger or want to die, but because I can tell in my previous life I never really got to live. If I can change one thing, it would be living life fully - even if it's short._

* * *

It was a little embarrassing to go back and read what I wrote, but my feelings had not changed since this morning. I wanted to live this life as well as I could, experience as much as I could, and when I died this time, if I was reincarnated again, I want to be able to look back in my next life and say, yes, that was a good life. I didn't want to die just to look back and regret my decisions again. Yes, I regretted the past, or what I could remember of it.

Below this initial entry, I added some words that had been rattling around in my head which were from bits and pieces of my dream that really didn't make sense. Heck, I was having problems remembering details about my family from my past life. So, I really wasn't surprised that I couldn't even remember the name or exact details of the anime I'd been reincarnated into at this point. Like the repeating Kyuubi attack at the grocery store which I saw, again and again, there were other half memories that seemed to be connected to this world, but it was all very nebulous. What I saw were things that I assumed were actual scenes or occurrences from that nearly half-forgotten anime I had watched a literal lifetime ago. Some I saw with my ghostly double vision, but other pieces were in my dreams only. To complicate things, these were mixed up with other half-remembered impressions that could have come from other animes or even books. The list read as follows: Slytherin, Akhenaten, Hebi, Naruto, and Saiyuki.

I chewed on my pencil as I stared at the list, idly circling the word 'Naruto' and then 'Hebi' as the only ones that seemed like they really belonged. How did I know these were more important than the others? I had no idea. It was just a gut feeling. Were these names? Names of people? Names of things? Hebi literally meant snake, but I frowned and suddenly circled the word 'Naruto' again. That was the name of a ramen topping… but it seemed somehow more important than that. Still, I couldn't seem to peg down why my brain felt that word was the most important. What was I forgetting?

Giving a long sigh, I flipped the pencil around in my hand and frowned at the page, only to jump practically out of my skin as a voice spoke near my ear, "Huh. Coded." Shikamaru was leaning over my shoulder, his sharp eyes narrowed as he studied the book. "Why coded?"

"Nora-chan writes in code?" Another voice sounded to my other side, and my gaze snapped around, eyes widening as I realized Chouji had also joined us at some point. About mid-year, the Akimichi child started joining us for Shikaku's mental training sessions. The extra boy gave Shikaku someone to pair Kiba off with. He hadn't ever joined us for physical training with Tsume, but his own father was apparently handling that.

"Where did -" I spluttered, "Hey, wait!" I pulled the book away from Shikamaru, hiding it behind my back before either boy could study it any longer. "I-it's my diary, you idiots!" I stuttered out, my face flushing at their stares.

The two boys exchanged looks, and I yelped as Chouji suddenly grabbed me in a bear hug, "Take the book. Leave me here! It's for the good of the village! We have to figure out who she likes!"

"When did this become playing ninja?!" I wailed, struggling against Chouji's grip while Shikamaru pried the book out of my hands and pranced away with a huge smirk as he held my dairy above his head.

Flipping it open, he made faces as he flipped through the pages, his frown deepening with each page he looked at.

"Come on, Chouji! This isn't fair! Lemme go!"

"Sorry, Nora-chan. I owe Shika-kun a blood debt. So just - ow - sit still and stop kicking my stomach. Hurry up, Shika! The Inuzuka's going to bite me!"

Indeed, I was trying to do just that. I had picked up a few bad habits being around Tsume and Kiba - and one of them was biting when all else failed.

"I can't figure it out!" Shikamaru complained as he flipped through my diary. "This is like … Jounin level code or something."

"Hahaha! That's impossible! Nora's an Inuzuka. They don't do hard codes like- ooof." Chouji paled as I snapped the heel of my foot into his stomach.

Though Chouji thought it impossible, Shikamaru was staring at me with a strange expression as if he was reconsidering everything he knew about me. Then an older boy wearing a hitai-ate around his forehead appeared behind him and plucked the book away.

He had black hair and matching black eyes with deep lines under them. He wasn't very old - not even a teenager yet but maybe he was one of those rumored early graduates from the academy. His eyes flicked over a single page, and then he snapped the book shut without a word.

Everything was silent for a moment, and then, "OW!" Chouji yelped as I took the distraction and sank my teeth into his arm. He loosened his grip enough that I was able to wriggle free.

"Sorry, Chou Chou!" I yelled back as I ran over to the older boy, holding up my hands as I asked, "Can I please have my dairy back?"

"Hmmm." A faint smile tipped up the corners of his lips, and he sank to a knee, offering me the book back with a small nod of his head.

"Thank you." I used both hands to reclaim it, hugging it close to my chest. The older boy studied me for a moment and reached out to smooth down my hair which had gotten pulled out of its braid into a messy rat's nest from my struggle with Chouji.

"Think nothing of it, Inu-, no, Nora-san." Glancing up, he added with a calm smile in response to Chouji's wailing about my bite, "If you boys don't want her to bite - you should be nicer. It's not honorable, after all, to take a girl's diary."

As I glanced at Shikamaru, I saw that he was staring up at the newcomer with a sort of quiet respect, finally scuffing his foot against the ground and shrugging as he looked away, "Yeah, okay, Uchiha-san. It was an annoying diary anyway."

"But it huuuuurts. I think I'm gonna die!"

Shikamaru sighed dramatically and trudged back to Chouji's side. "She didn't even draw blood! You're not going to die. Geez."

"Um. Uchiha-san?"

He glanced down at me and grinned, "Itachi. Call me Itachi."

"Itachi-san, um, thank you again."

"Hmm, no problem." His eyes squinted as his grin widened.

"Oy, why's Chunks here acting like he's dying?" My mother's voice loudly interrupted the quiet-spoken boy as she landed in a cloud of dust and slowly stood from her crouch.

Shikamaru yelled back, "Nora bit him while we were playing ninja!"

Tsume's narrowed eyes flashed to me, and she leaned forward to study my face for a serious moment before laughing loudly, "You're learning! Good job, kid! Take every opening and show those boys what you can do!" Glancing up she added, "Yo, Itachi-kun. Wassup?"

Clearing his throat, the older boy commented, "Shikaku thought I ought to pay a visit before tomorrow."

Tsume's brow slid up at these three simple words, and she smirked, the tip of a canine showing. "Oh, did he now? Welp, you good for tomorrow?"

The older boy gave my mother an amused chuckle, "Yes. I'll be coming with Shikaku first thing in the morning." His hand gave my head another pat, and he offered a subtle smile, "I'll see you then, Nora-san." Then he seemed to flash and disappear. I couldn't help but gape a little at the spot he had just occupied.

"Mommy, he is soooo cool!" I rounded on Tsume with a wide grin as I told her all that happened.

A/N: This is the longest chapter yet. Four re-writes later, and I think it's finally ready for public consumption. Whew! I'm taking a different direction from most reincarnation fics, and you'll start to see that unfold a bit over the next few chapters. Hopefully, you all will enjoy the ride! ^^


	6. Chapter 6

I should have put it together faster. If Shikaku had sent someone new to my mother, and they were going to meet us in the morning during our normal training time, there was only one possible reason. Shikaku had been watching me all too closely of late. That incident with the puzzle box was just the first time of many, and, like I'd mentioned before, the frequency with which my secondary vision was activating had increased exponentially since then.

It didn't take a genius to know that he was keeping track of all the times I had seemed a little off. Every headache, every bout of nausea, and every time I did something unexpected or improbable, all of these were systematically filed away in that man's brain. Of course, it wasn't exactly a secret that there was something wrong with me. I tried to hide and downplay the problem as much as I could, but when your mother starts taking you to the hospital for unexplained symptoms you've graduated to a whole new level. The only thing the adults around me weren't aware of at this point was the exact cause of my symptoms. I hadn't bothered to explain it. I had enough trouble grasping the right words to explain it even in my own head, much less to someone else.

I found myself standing in front of my mirror as I braided my hair, muttering to myself, "Do not meddle in the affairs of ninjas - especially Shikaku - for they are subtle and quick." I paused mid-styling just after the words left my mouth and slowly shook my head. I felt like I had heard that phrase somewhere before, but, as was true with so many of these half-remembered things, I couldn't quite place where or when I had heard it before.

"Were you saying something, Nora?" Hana asked from above.

I looked up the mirror to see my older sister just behind me. She, too, was braiding her hair like we were some kind of matched set. As I had gotten older, I often shared the bathroom with her. It had started out of necessity because of a host of little things I couldn't do on my own. Everything from getting up on the toilet to reaching for a toothbrush was a struggle. Even now that I was mostly self-sufficient, Hana would still help me with various small things. Being three foot tall and balancing on a kiddie stool while trying to reach something in the cabinet over the sink wasn't exactly fun.

"Just talking to myself. I'm kind of nervous."

"Ugh, so am I… It's kind of nerve-racking having Itachi of all people coming over this early in the morning."

"Why?" I asked, playing the innocent kid card in hopes of getting some more information.

"Well, he's a genius. Like the smartest of the smart. He was in my class at the academy, and he graduated after just a year." Hana sighed and rolled her eyes. "And if the girls at school learn that he's coming over to my house, there's going to be so much hell to pay. They'll definitely draw the wrong conclusion and be all like… Hana, no one can exclusively date Itachi because he's for all of us, blah, blah…"

"Well, he is kind of handsome - for a nine-year-old, I mean."

Hana snorted and grinned at my reflection in the mirror. "Well, I'll agree with that. All the other boys in my year group kind of look like warmed over dog turds in comparison."

"Do you like him?"

Hana fiddled with her hair some more, first pulling a strand of hair out to hang loosely around her face, and then grimacing and tucking it back in. "Eh, I dunno. Maybe if he didn't have so many stupid fangirls. Honestly, I don't give a damn. I don't really care what he thinks about me." Scrunching up her nose, she looked down at me. "Do I look okay?"

My elder sister was a terrible liar. "Lip gloss?" I offered the suggestion and watched with barely contained amusement as my sister's face lit up at the suggestion. "Great idea!"

Hana didn't stop at the lip gloss. In fact, by the time she was done, she was wearing more makeup than she ever did. Unfortunately, it wasn't terribly well applied, and she just looked kind of weird. Even Hana knew her makeup job was pretty lousy because she kept asking me, the child who was a couple months from her fourth birthday, how to fix it.

Somehow, I finally convinced her to just wash her face. It was in this moment right after, with her face still damp from scrubbing off the makeup that the doorbell rang.

"Crap, Nora! He's here! What do I do?"

Pounding down the hallway, I watched Kiba flash by on his way to the front door, a yell following behind him, "I've got dibs on the door!" He could make anything into a competition.

"Just the lip gloss and book it! It'll look even less cool to be seen coming out of the bathroom!"

"Ugh." Hana grabbed the tube of lip gloss, slathering it on as she pulled me out of the bathroom by the hand. I happily followed along in her wake, giggling as she palmed the tube of gloss closed with her other hand and chucked it back into the bathroom like she was hurling a kunai. With the amount of force she put behind it, we would probably find the tube lodged in the wall of the bathroom sometime that evening.

"Yo, yo! It's the whole freaking nerd squad." Tsume called from the kitchen as she stuck her head out to greet our newcomers. "You losers gotten some breakfast?"

Hana and I rounded the corner to find that we didn't just have Itachi and Shikaku invading our house this morning. No, for some reason we had Shikaku, Shikamaru, Itachi, and his younger brother Sasuke all standing in the entryway.

"Yeah, but you got some extra coffee, Tsume? I think I could stand a second cup." The request came from Shikaku. Frankly, neither of the Nara's looked fully awake.

"Yup. Just a second." Tsume disappeared back into the kitchen.

Kiba, meanwhile, was talking circles around Sasuke who had a dazed and faintly confused look on his face. We had bumped into Sasuke a few times before, just as we had met most of the other clan kids at some point either thanks to simple encounters while playing or the occasional birthday party.

Sasuke was a quiet and sweet-tempered kid with a hesitant but bright smile. Still, he wasn't exactly the most outgoing child, and my brother was basically word vomit personified.

Itachi, on the other hand, seemed detached from everything going on around him, calmly and quietly staring at the crazy array of family photos Tsume had haphazardly hung on the wall. A good half of them had us making goofy faces or trying to do something like touching our noses with our tongues. The Inuzuka's didn't really do formal family portraits.

My elder sister had begun to go red as she realized just what Itachi was looking at. Crouching down next to me, she muttered quietly enough for only me to hear, "Nora, if I die of embarrassment, you can have my stuff."

"It's okay, Hana. You don't need him. Mom does just great without a guy."

Hana sighed at me and rolled her eyes, "It's not like that..."

"No, no." I beamed at her. "I understand, and since I'm the best baby sister eveeeer…" I flashed my sister a wide smile and released her hand, bouncing over to Itachi.

I was prepared to tug his shirt, wriggle about like a loon, or do whatever else needed to be done to get his attention off our questionable family photos, but there was no need. His eyes just calmly shifted to me as I approached him.

"Good morning, Nora-san."

"Hi hi, Itachi-san!"

Meanwhile, Tsume had emerged from the kitchen with a cup of coffee for Shikaku. Before he'd hardly had a sip of the coffee, Tsume was questioning him in a quiet voice, "So what's the plan here?"

"I've got a theory," Shikaku replied softly to my mother. Then paused and drank several gulps of the hot, bitter liquid, wrinkling his nose as he did so. Rubbing his hand across his mouth, the man cleared his throat before continuing. "Something that needs to be tested, and, well, it was either an Uchiha or a Yamanaka. Figured Inoichi would be completely overkill. Plus, well, the man's our friend, but he's still bound to report in anything he thinks ANBU or that new T&I unit needs to know."

They were trying to have one of those adult conversations on the sly, trusting that, if they kept their voices down, the rest of us would be sufficiently preoccupied with the activity around us. For the most part, it was working. Hana had taken my intervention and rolled with it, coming over to give Itachi a friendly if awkward greeting. Kiba and Sasuke definitely weren't paying attention to the adults, and Shikamaru had fallen asleep while leaning against his father's leg. I was trying to not make it obvious that I was listening in, but when Itachi gave me an amused smirk, I knew that I hadn't been subtle enough in my spying.

"Frankly, I don't want to get intelligence involved in this. It may be nothing, and some of them are already a bit too uptight about, well, you know what I mean without me saying more. None of it's the kid's fault that's for sure. Anyhow, had a chat with the Third and decided that pulling in a genin the Hokage trusts from the Uchiha clan on the premise of helping some youngsters with their training seemed like the most low key way to get things done." Shikaku shrugged and then knocked back the last of the coffee in the mug, swallowing and running his tongue along his teeth as he sucked in air.

"I hope this theory pans out. The hospital turned out to be a huge freaking waste of time, and, at this point, I'm willing to try just about anything. I need to figure out what's causing her headaches. Even so, you'd better take good care of my baby, Shikaku."

The man winced and gave Tsume a firm nod. "Don't worry. I've got a healthy fear of what you might do to me if I screw up… And that's before Yoshino kills me."

A/N: For the record, later that evening, Hana got stuck patching the wall in the bathroom. Who knew you could use lip gloss as an effective projectile? Next chapter's looking like it's going to be a long one!


	7. Chapter 7

"So, why's a genin training with us?" Chouji asked just as Shikaku declared which training game we were playing today. The larger boy had caught up with us not long after we'd made it to the training grounds.

"Because you lot need a challenge." Shikaku's grin widened and his eyes glinted mischievously. "Every time we play this game, it gets easier for each of you. It's about time we make it a challenge again."

We had played this game before with Shikaku. It was a souped-up ninja kid version of hide-and-go-seek. Usually, each of us had a turn and we were measured based on how fast we found everyone. Running around looking under every bush in the huge training grounds never got anyone a good score. No, the goal of the exercise was to teach us the basics of tracking as well as using scent, logic, or any other skill we had at our disposal to find every hiding place.

"There will be no individual scores this time. You'll be working in teams. Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba - you're Team One. Sasuke and Nora - you're Team Two."

"Doesn't the other team need one more for a fair game?" Chouji asked with a frown.

"Nope. Today's lesson: Life isn't fair."

"Hahaha. Sucks to be you guys. Sasuke hasn't even played this game with us before." Kiba smirked at me, and I stuck my tongue out at my brother as I grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him away from the other boys.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at our exchange. "Shut up, Kiba."

"Heh," Shikaku smirked at us. "Itachi here - he's going to be for hire. He'll be hiding, and if your team finds him - you can bring him into that round of the game on your side. Think of it as being able to acquire an ultimate weapon. He'll be findable, but don't let looking for Itachi distract you from your main goal each round - or you might lose. Itachi, you can go ahead and hide."

With a small nod and a flicker of the tiger hand sign, the older boy suddenly and wordlessly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Shikamaru sighed loudly and raised his hand.

"Yes, son?"

"I'd like to switch places with Sasuke."

Shikaku smirked at his child and shook his head slowly, "Denied. That would be unfair to Team One. Besides, you need to learn how to work with people who don't think the same way as you."

"Are you an idiot? Why would you want to go to the weaker team?" Kiba laughed loudly and slapped Shikamaru on the back, an action that made the younger Nara cringe. "Man, you're so weird."

"Also, today, we're going to add tagging. It's not enough to simply find every member of the opposite team. You need to touch them. I'll be the referee - and I have the final say if there are any arguments. Thirty minutes per round. Hiding team wins if they survive. Seeking team otherwise. Any questions?"

"Let's do this!" Chouji cheered with a wide grin.

With another sigh, Shikamaru pressed a hand against his face and muttered, "I'm so screwed…"

Shikaku smirked at his son briefly then nodded. "Good. Team Two - you're hiding first. You have a two-minute head start. Go!"

* * *

I normally enjoyed this game, but, today, we were training at one of my least favorite places. It was the training grounds not far from the memorial stone, and while I didn't personally know anyone who had died here in Konoha, that stone always messed with my concentration. You see, like the grocery store that was near the origination of the Kyuubi attack, the memorial stone always triggered my little double vision problem. If Shikaku was testing a theory related to investigating my raging headaches, there was no doubt that he had picked this location on purpose.

Thus, we weren't long into the first round before the weirdness began. I misjudged my footing, tripping instead of jumping over the root of a tree as the double vision played with my perception of reality. In theory, I was supposed to have improved at this whole running and jumping thing thanks to Tsume's work over the past year, and, when I wasn't seeing the world like a drunk man, I generally did okay.

Running back to me, Sasuke reached down to pull me back to my feet. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. Sorry. Just misjudged that jump." Finding my footing, I pressed a hand against my pounding heart, calming my breathing as I glanced towards the memorial stone. There, if I squinted, I could see a trio of figures standing. One, even from a distance, looked a lot like Shikaku, but I knew that Shikaku was with the other team, counting down the seconds until he sent them after us.

I almost never saw the same thing twice here at the stone. Sometimes, the area before the stone was filled with mourners for a funeral, and other times it was just a single person. Frankly, if any of them had been real, it wouldn't have been worth even mentioning, but what I'm talking about seeing weren't physical people. This was something more like shadowy ghosts or a holographic image overlaying reality.

Shaking my head to clear it, I winced as the first side effect of my double vision crept in and settled against the front of my head in a dull aching throb that seemed to radiate out from my temples.

Sasuke's brows drew together as he frowned at me, "You sure?"

I nodded and pressed the heel of my hand against my forehead. Forcing myself past the threatening pangs of the initial headache, I gave the younger Uchiha a grin that wasn't at all forced. "Just a headache. I'm fine. I'm not going to let my older brother beat me."

His face bloomed into a fierce grin that matched my own. "Mm. I understand. You can count on me." He grabbed my hand this time and pulled me behind him, directing our path as we ran between the trees.

"We need to find your brother first. If the seekers get to him before us, we're done for."

"Agreed. I never win against him when we play this at home." Sasuke stuck out his lower lip in a pout. "One day - I'm going to catch up to him. Should we separate and look for him?"

"No. Not yet... Wait! There!" I tugged Sasuke backward as I slid to a stop, nearly causing the Uchiha to fall. Through the trees, I saw a flicker of dark blue, the same color as my teammate's shirt. As I stared, my double vision drew into focus, and I saw a shadowy image of Itachi walking away into the deeper forest.

"Is there something there?" The boy asked, looking at where I was staring with a curious tip of his head.

"I think I saw your brother for a moment."

"He does that sometimes. Let's you see something and then just disappears a moment later. If he played this game seriously we would never find him."

"Let's take a look."

Sasuke let me lead him into the denser woods. We ducked under branches and came out near to where I had seen that ghostly after image of his brother. Glancing around me, I jerked as again I saw Itachi for a brief few moments before he disappeared once more just to our right.

Not too far away, a whistle sounded and Sasuke and I crouched down in the foliage as whoops and hollers erupted from the clearing. The clock was ticking, and the hunt was on.

"There." I hissed in a whisper as I pointed towards the new spot.

"Come on," Sasuke replied just as softly, retaking the lead as we crept to the new location. We made several more moves like this, where I'd see something and the youngest Uchiha would race ahead, checking for our seekers before I crept forward quickly and quietly to join him.

Eventually, we came upon a big tree that dwarfed the others near this training ground. Its trunk alone would have taken six children my size standing finger to finger in order to wrap around it.

By now, I had begun to feel a little nauseous from seeing the world twice over, but as long as I kept breathing evenly I was fine. "This is it," I whispered to Sasuke, and I quickened my steps as I jogged over to the tree. There, I saw something! I rubbed at my right temple with my fingertips, squinting from the throbbing ache in my head as I followed the ghostly image of his brother around the tree. I blinked and looked up, following the double's movement to one branch, then a leap across to another, and just as I was about to turn around to follow that vision's next jump a stick cracked behind us.

Both Sasuke and I spun around, ready to run, only to find Itachi grinning down at us from that final branch I had been about to look at. Idly, he dropped the bits of a broken stick on the ground in front of him. "Ahh, interesting. It seems you have found me."

A/N: Oh, Itachi... we all know you did that on purpose. It's so good to have this chapter posted. (I spent so much time rewriting and tweaking this.) x_x I have the next chapter done, too, but I'm going to be evil and force you all to wait a couple days. :


	8. Chapter 8

Just as we found Itachi, the pain suddenly peaked to a new intensity, and I winced, quickly closing my eyes.

"Nora-chan?" Sasuke asked, a note of concern making his voice squeak as he voiced the question.

"Hmm. A headache." His brother stated as he appeared in front of us kneeling. He reached his hand up and pressed it against my forehead. "And a fever. I see."

Not too far away, I could hear my brother calling, "Guys! This way. I can smell Nora."

"Brother! We want to employ you!" Sasuke exclaimed in a whisper pitched voice.

"Consider it done. Get on my back." Itachi crouched down, letting Sasuke monkey up onto his back, then he scooped me up in his arms, and in an instant we found ourselves high in the trees, flying through the branches at an overwhelming speed that just made my headache and accompanying nausea all the worse. So I closed my eyes, bit my lower lip, and held on to a chunk of Itachi's shirt, all the while willing myself to keep down breakfast.

He finally came to a stop after a few minutes, dropping down on the opposite side of the training ground from where we had been just seconds before. Sasuke hopped off his brother's back, laughing loudly as he spun around. "That'll confuse them for sure." I managed a weak chuckle at Sasuke's exuberance, but I had little else to offer as I concentrated on keeping my breathing even.

Itachi sat down on the ground, settling me on his lap. "Nora-san?" I cracked my eyes open but otherwise barely moved as he pressed his cool hand against my forehead once again.

Sasuke returned immediately, leaning over Itachi's shoulder with a frown that matched his brother's. My vision swam with not only their current motions and gestures but also with the overlay of what each of them was about to do. When we had been looking for Itachi, I was seeing a shadow of the past, and now I was seeing premonitions of the future. I saw Itachi's lips begin to move and a few minutes later reality seemed to catch up with my double vision, and I was seeing the past again as Itachi's words overlaid a repeat of Sasuke and Itachi giving me their twin frown from a moment prior.

I couldn't concentrate on Itachi's words at all, and I winced, closing my eyes again. My voice sounded hoarse to my ears as I whispered, "Sorry, I- I think -" I cleared my throat and swallowed to keep down a rising lump, "I might throw up."

"Nausea, too." The elder Uchiha muttered under his breath.

"She tripped in a weird spot earlier," Sasuke chirped. "That's when she first said she was getting the headache."

"I think Shikaku is right," Itachi muttered above my head.

"Right about what?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll explain it to you later. Sasuke-kun, can you keep watch?"

I cracked my eyes open just as the youngster frowned up at his older brother for being denied an answer. "I guess I could. Why?"

"I think I can help with Nora-san's headache, but it will take most of my concentration."

Sasuke straightened up, his frown melting into a grin. "Mmm. Okay, big brother. If I hear the other team I'll warn you."

"Good. Go." Itachi's dark eyes followed his younger brother for a moment as the child took up a position behind the trunk of a tree, then his gaze flicked back down to me. "You're seeing something more than others - aren't you?"

I jerked at the question. "Yes." I pouted up at him, "But how'd you know that?"

"It was obvious. You tracked me with your eyes. The exact details of what you saw are secondary to the fact that you could do this." Itachi smirked faintly and quirked a brow as he added, "Though I confess to being curious. Furthermore, the Uchiha have a dojutsu called the Sharingan. When we first awaken it, until we adjust to the ability, it can cause similar problems. Headaches, nausea, and misjudgments on the exact positions of people and objects. The symptoms are not dissimilar to yours."

He offered me a small smile before he continued, "Shikaku took note of your habits and symptoms, then drew the conclusion that you might be experiencing something that was somehow related. That is why I am here. The Hokage felt that someone with more intimate knowledge of dojutsu should look into your situation."

"Mmm." I offered that single noise as acknowledgment of his words, letting my eyes slip closed again. "If yours is the Sharingan, what is mine then?"

"That, I do not know. It is not the same, that much I can say for certain. For instance, it seems you can't control turning it off and on - at least not yet."

"I'd freaking love to be able to turn it off," I grumbled.

"Then, let me try something. Look at me."

I slowly opened my eyelids, meeting Itachi's suddenly red eyes. So that was the Sharingan. The thought brushed across my thoughts, and then, in an instant, we were no longer under a tree but sitting in a field of flowing grass. A soft, warm breeze whispered around me, but, more importantly, I felt almost instantly better. The pain began to recede, turning into just a dull ache, the nausea eased, and, more importantly, I wasn't seeing two Itachi's at once.

"Oh! That's much better." I blinked, opening my eyes wider as I felt the malaise slowly lift. Glancing around me, I chewed on my lower lip, "This … is a genjutsu?"

"Yes." Itachi grinned, his eyes squinting closed. "It seems it worked. I'm still learning how to effectively use it, but I'm a bit pleased that, at least in your case, it can have some practical use beyond what is normally intended."

"But - what about the game?" My mind had snapped right back to what I was supposed to be worrying about, now that I didn't feel terrible.

"I doubt they'll catch up. They'll probably run out of time. It should be fine." Itachi shrugged, "More importantly, no one can listen in on whatever we say here since, effectively, we're inside your head."

I gaped a little at the older boy, "That's kind of neat."

He chuckled and gave the top of my head a pat, "I guess it is. Shikaku's said that you haven't really talked about what's going on except in the vaguest terms. Like you're hiding things. So, will you tell me about this ability of yours?"

Puffing out my cheeks, I tried to find where to begin my explanation. "I don't talk about it because I don't want Mommy or Hana to worry and because I know that it might be bad. What I see, it's really weird, Itachi-san. At first, I thought I was seeing … um, like, memories or something. Almost as if I had lived or seen something before." Which still seemed to me like it could be part of what was going on, but, at this point, I was also certain there was more to it than just that. After all, my previous life wasn't in Konoha, so why could I see specific things like the Kyuubi attack? Or why could I track Itachi using what was essentially an afterimage of his passing?

Taking a deep breath, I held it for a moment before blurting out, "Sometimes, I see things from the past, but other times the things I see look like the future. Or maybe they're not the past or the future but something else. The best way I can describe what I see is to tell you that I can see the present and this other vision - like an overlay, an echo, double vision, a layer on top of reality."

"For example, if I'm playing shogi or something similar, I can see the next move of the game: mine or my opponents. It's not always the correct move, but it's like the world is saying 'this is the path we anticipate'." I took in a deep breath, glancing up at him before I continued, "On other occasions, I see the echoes of the past. Like when I was following you earlier. Um, another example. When I'm near the place where the Kyuubi attacked, I can usually see it. The attack unfolding, buildings collapsing, people dying…"

I shuddered at what I had seen as it played through my memory again, "I can even smell and taste the scent of the attack on my tongue: dust, blood, and smoke. It- it's really terrible."

Though he kept his face straight through most of what I said, Itachi grimaced at this final revelation. As I hesitated in my explanation he murmured under his breath, "It was terrible. A truly horrible day." Pressing his lips together for a moment, the older boy sighed, "Though I can understand why you've hesitated to speak of this. I'm having trouble envisioning what you're speaking of." He paused and suddenly added, "But you could show me - as you just did with your memory of the Kyuubi attack."

"Eh?" I tipped my head at the statement.

"With my dojutsu, I can see your memories. With mastery I don't yet have, I could look myself, but you can also just recall them for me to see. I want you to think about how you followed me earlier. I was watching from a distance, and each time, without fail, you chose without so much as faltering where I had been previously. Pull up the memory, I will be able to see it as you did."

"O-okay." I closed my eyes and let out a breath, letting my mind step back a few minutes into the past. I didn't try to remember every step I took, but I did remember each place where we paused and then found that trace of Itachi once again.

As I followed the memory to the final location, that huge tree, Itachi spoke again, "Enough. Good." I opened my eyes again, looking up at him as he gave me a small nod, "I think I understand now. It seems like you might have some kind of unique sensor-type dojutsu. Maybe you can pick up on past chakra marks in an area. Or perhaps you're also sensing fluctuations in chakra around you. That might be why you sometimes feel like you're seeing the future. Something similar can happen with the Sharingan in which it seems like we can see the opponent's move a few seconds before they act upon it. Though for us it's more due to being able to process visual input extremely quickly. Yours is different."

"What about trees and rocks?" I found myself asking. "I mean, I can accept that explanation of chakra for a person, but you saw it, too. Even the trees and the rocks were subtly different. It happens with just about everything."

"Yes. I did notice that." His brows drew together, deepening the creases near his eyes as he considered my question. "If it's a sensor-type ability…." Then suddenly his eyes widened and he whispered, "Natural energy! If you can sense nature energy, then trees, water, rocks - anything with nature energy might leave an echo of that energy behind for you to see."

"Nature energy?" I tipped my head to the side and wrinkled my nose.

"Never heard of it, hmm? I'm not surprised. Think of it as nature's chakra. That will be the easiest explanation for now. Hmph. This all poses more questions than answers."

Pressing my lips together, I sighed, "Is having this dojutsu a good thing?"

Itachi paused and looked down at me again, seeming to seriously weigh the question. Then, he offered me a sad smile, "A good thing? I'm not sure. As with most unique skills, whether it's good or bad likely depends on how you use it." Then he paused and his smile faded away as he muttered softly, "I guess it does mean that you're exceptional." The way he said exceptional, however, made it sound like a status that was not to be envied.

"So, is being exceptional bad, Itachi-san?"

Sighing, he offered me a slow shake of his head, "That, too, likely depends. If I figure out a better answer, I will let you know, Nora-san. Ahh, it seems time is up."

Just then, the genjtsu seemed to fall away, like curtains being dropped, and suddenly I was back in the training grounds. In the distance, I could hear Shikaku's whistle sounding the end of the round.

"Did it work?" Sasuke was asking as Itachi stood, setting me on my feet as well. "Is your headache gone?"

I tipped my head to one side and glanced around me as I blinked rapidly. No double vision, no nausea, no headache. The fact that I had begun to feel better wasn't simply limited to the constraints of the genjutsu itself.

A smile tugged at my lips as I gave Sasuke a sharp nod, "It is!"

He beamed at me and offered his hand, "Good! Come on. It's our turn to hunt."

A/N: These last two chapters were a doozy. More uncomfortable revelations and some light hilarity coming in the next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

After nearly four years living with the Inuzuka's, I'd taken to describing as many things as possible in dog terms. It was a natural side effect of being surrounded by both dogs and a group of people who were pretty much obsessed with them. At the moment, I was one of four children in a sleepy baby ninja puppy pile, and, of course, because this was an Inuzuka house, several ninken including Kuromaru had joined us.

It had been a ridiculously long morning. After the first round, there were another seven rounds lasting a total of fours hours, and every round my double vision would trigger only to be forcibly turned off by Itachi once my symptoms grew too severe. Even with my ability to see and know more than anyone should, the teams were fairly evenly matched as long as Kiba actually listened to Shikamaru's suggestions. Unless we got the drop on their team, Sasuke struggled to tag Kiba who was ever so slightly faster than him, and Chouji was more than willing to sacrifice himself to try and keep Sasuke or me from pursuing his teammates.

Unfortunately, Shikamaru only got Kiba to agree to a strategy once they'd miserably lost the first four rounds. Out of desperation came some amount of unity, and the last four rounds were truly a competition. By the end, we were all exhausted and hungry. Shikaku and Itachi had filled us with ramen from Ichiraku's, dropped Chouji off at his home, and then returned to the Inuzuka compound where they had dumped our sleepy backsides on the couch in my family's front living room.

Honestly, I wondered if we had accomplished much today. On one hand, Itachi had quickly found a way to ease my symptoms, but I wasn't confident that either Shikaku or Itachi knew what to do next. We did discover that even with repeated tests throughout the day, my symptoms weren't improving even minutely. In other words, I wasn't adapting to having my second sight switched on more frequently like someone with the Sharingan would. Perhaps with a lot more time, I would build up a tolerance for it, but it was going to be a very uncomfortable thing to train.

By the cast of the light coming through the window, I figured it was late afternoon, but not quite dinner time yet. Kiba was flat out on his back with Sasuke using my brother's stomach as a pillow. Meanwhile, Shikamaru was seemingly headless, his face somehow lost underneath a pile of couch pillows and an arm draped over my shoulder like he'd been using me as some kind of teddy bear. Kuromaru had his head resting on my feet, and another ninken was curled around Kiba's head.

It wasn't uncomfortable, and for a moment I thought I would drift back to sleep. Sadly, into my sleepy haze came the siren call of my tiny, peanut bladder, and, with a grumble of annoyance, I gently extracted myself from the pile of boys and dogs, partially sliding, partially rolling off the couch.

Gaining my feet, I crept quietly out of the living room, figuring that I'd find my way back after my potty break. However, as I approached the open door to the kitchen, I could hear four soft voices locked in conversation. Curious, I slowed my steps and tipped my head to listen

"It's a bit like your clan's nose, Tsume. For example, a strong scent can overwhelm and actually cause physical pain to the youngsters in your clan until they learn to control the ability." Shikaku's voice had a touch of weariness to it as he spoke, "From what Itachi and I can piece together, Nora has some variety of dojutsu. One that makes her visually hypersensitive to both chakra and, strangely enough, natural energy. Of course, knowing what the problem is and figuring out how to help her cope with it are two totally different things. Tell them what you told me, Itachi."

"I had her recall memories of what she had just seen each time I pulled her into a genjutsu including some of her past experiences with the phenomenon. It seems that when the ability is in effect she actually sees the world twice. One is reality and the other is a chakra and energy generated shadow of the world. Portions of what she showed me were both jarring and different from the way I see the world through the Sharingan. Still, it is not entirely dissimilar."

A voice I didn't recognize added, "If that is so, it certainly explains the symptoms she is experiencing."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Can you tell us more about what she sees, Itachi-kun?" The Hokage? I stiffened and leaned closer to the door so I wouldn't miss a word.

"That could be difficult, sir. This is why I had her show me her memories directly. Initially, I asked her to describe it, but she struggled to assign words to what she sees."

"And that child is never short on words..." Shikaku muttered.

"So I gathered. I thought it was remarkable that she couldn't explain it to me since she seemed to possess unusual awareness and intelligence for her age. A glance inside her dairy was enough to illustrate that. So you'll understand when I say that even I find it difficult to describe what she sees. Some of her memories were challenging even for me to fully comprehend. They were so visually intricate as to be nearly inscrutable."

"So, to simplify the question," Shikaku began, "If she's seeing the world twice - what is contained in the second image she sees?"

"To make it as simple as possible, I believe that she is seeing is the past and the probabilities of possibility, by that I mean a potential future, all at once overlapping her normal vision. I would guess she is capable of actually seeing all this at once - but untrained and uncontrolled as it is, her dojutsu flows between these, probably moving along the path that offers the least chakra resistance. In time, she could probably learn to select what she wants to see with it, but, for now, that is not the case."

There was a pause then, but after a moment Shikaku continued where Itachi left off, "It seems that areas or objects with strong chakra energy signatures trigger this dojutsu, and once it's triggered she doesn't know how to turn it off. It's probably why she only seems to get ill when she is in or near certain areas of the village."

"As an example," Itachi's voice added, "According to what Nora told me earlier, the central shopping district apparently has a strong signature left from the Kyuubi attack almost 3 years ago. She actually can see some of what happened that day as if she was watching the moment herself. I guess you might call it a chakra infused memory of the past. Today while we were training, she kept looking back at the memorial stone. When I asked her to show me what she was seeing there, I realized that she was seeing a group of three standing there in the distance, but no one visited the stone today at any point."

"That certainly explains why she sometimes tries to talk to someone who's not there. Does anyone in the village even have any training in dealing with something like this?" I could hear my mother sigh followed by the clink of a cup on the kitchen table.

"The skill is similar in some ways to a sensor type, so maybe Kurenai Yuhi," Shikaku suggested after a moment's consideration. "She's a talented sensor type chunin, but, to be honest, I doubt she can help that much right now. Before we tackle how she can use her dojutsu, she first needs to learn how to turn it off, and most sensor types have to learn to turn on their ability, not the reverse. For this, we really need a dojutsu expert."

"Which leaves us with the Uchiha and the Hyuuga." The Hokage's voice commented thoughtfully.

"To be honest, Shikaku-san. I'm not sure how much help my family could realistically be."

"Yeah, I know, Itachi. I'm just not sure what other options we have. Plus, if we pull in too many people, it's going to be hard keeping this quiet. Once word finds its way around that there's a child with a unique dojutsu here in the village, it'll be difficult to keep certain parties from wanting to run the poor kid through various tests. They'll probably try to rush her through the academy and maybe attempt to recruit her into one of the Anbu's training divisions whether she wants that or not. Honestly, what we really need is someone who understands nature energy."

"If the fourth was alive…" With a long sigh, the voice I had identified as the Hokage murmured, "The only one living who might truly help us with that aspect of her ability is Jiraiya, but he's not eager to return to the village these days. I fear, Shikaku, that you are right. While I believe those people mean well, they are often … too eager."

"There's also the bastard who caused this problem," Tsume growled.

"For which I feel personally responsible," the Hokage added softly, "I fear I didn't act quickly enough to stop my former student, and now another child is suffering the consequences of his actions and my inaction. We are still finding the remains of his labs with uncomfortable frequency."

"Unfortunately, yes, this dojutsu is probably the result of his sick experiments," Shikaku sighed. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if we find she has other latent talents. Orochimaru's experiments were all attempts to create or recreate unique abilities. Frankly, we still don't know exactly what he was doing with Nora. After all, it's not like we have a large group of similar samples to compare her against. My understanding is that all the other kids died."

"Shikaku-san," Itachi's calm voice broke into the silence that followed, "I'm not sure if this is the right suggestion, but perhaps the best way is to simply teach her to function with it on. If we ignore the nature energy issues and look at it strictly as a normal sensor ability, like the Sharingan, heightened scent, or chakra detection, then isn't the answer to simply teach her how to keep the influx of information from overwhelming her mind?"

"The kid's got a point. Keep it simple and stupid instead of overthinking it." I could hear Tsume chuckle as a chair creaked and scraped against the floor. "But I think this is going to be a bit harder than teaching her how to use chakra to protect her nose - that's what I do basically."

"Well, it's not a bad idea, Itachi-kun, but she would need to learn how to shield her entire mind with chakra. It's not a simple technique. It requires fairly precise chakra control, and we are speaking of a child who is so young she hasn't yet learned the very basics of what chakra is." After a moment of silence, the Hokage gave a long sigh. "We could seal this ability."

"Respectfully, Hokage-sama, I disagree with that being an option at all. Sealing it means that she'll never learn how to control it, and if that seal breaks at some point in the future it could leave her disastrously incapacitated at a critical moment."

"Hmm, yes, I had not considered that perspective. You are right, Shikaku-san." A chuckle followed as he added, "And by Tsume's expression I believe she agrees with you as well. There is a third possible option, but it will take me a few weeks to see if it's at all feasible. I will look into it."

"Do that. We can begin working with her in the meantime. She is bright, learns quickly, and I'd rather just accelerate her training than effectively neuter her. We'll have to start with academy basics then move on to chakra control and shielding, but I think it's a good first step." Shikaku spoke as he suddenly paced by the door into the kitchen, rubbing at his goatee as he stared up at the ceiling. "It might take a few months to make real progress, but that should be fine. Tsume, if you can begin teaching her chakra basics this week. Then, in a few days, we can work with her on the core concepts of chakra control and shielding…"

I was so absorbed in what they were saying that when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, someone yelled, "Boo!" right in my ear, I gave a short shriek. I tried to quickly muffle my outburst by clapping my hands over my mouth, but it was far too late.

Shikaku spun around, his face faltering as he caught sight of not only me but also his son standing next to me with a wide, goofy grin as I glared at the boy.

Over on the couch, Kiba rocketed upright, dumping Sasuke on the floor as he looked wildly around, "What's going on? Nora, are you okay? Was it a mouse, a bug? I'll kill it!"

From the floor, a small groan heralded the sleepy rise of a nearly zombie-like, faintly disheveled Sasuke, who blinked owlishly as he glanced about the room before offering the lot of us a huge yawn.

"Gooootcha," Shikaku's miniature clone crowed, all too pleased with himself. How long had he been standing there?!

A dark brow quirked up and Shikaku sighed, rolling his eyes to the side as he glanced back at Tsume, Itachi, and the Hokage who had joined him at the kitchen door. "It seems like we're done talking. Itachi, if you can I'd like you to join us for training again the day after tomorrow and every other day for at least a couple weeks here. I know it'll cut into your training with Shisui and preparing for the chunin exams, but I'd appreciate the assist."

"Shisui won't mind, and I'd be pleased to help the village in this way." His eyes squinted into an easy smile, "Besides, it won't be time wasted because in a way it gives me an opportunity to train, too. I don't have many people in my clan or even outside the clan who are willing to let me refine my Sharingan abilities on them, and this is significantly more pleasant than the alternative method of training during official missions."

Tsume chuckled and gave the older boy a pat on the shoulder, "Yeah. I'm sure fields of flowers and pink sheep are a lot more pleasant than making people think they're melting or something. Thanks, Itachi-kun. I'm going to owe you a favor for this one."

"For the next few weeks, I will leave you three off the mission roster," The Hokage gave a wide, almost grandfatherly smile as he chuckled at the antics of the boys, "since you have a more pressing mission here."

While they had been talking, Kiba had gotten between me and Shikamaru, and the pair were glaring each other down. Kiba had put together the fact that the culprit who had made me scream had to be the Nara, and Shikamaru was still grinning like he was the cat who had gotten into the cream.

"Back off, Shika-kun. She's my sister." Kiba even snarled a little as he possessively pushed me behind him to keep Shikamaru from so much as breathing on me.

"But she's my friend."

"She was mine first, and I'm the only one who's allowed to scare her."

Thankfully, Tsume stepped in at this point, grabbing both Kiba and Shikamaru by the collar of their shirts and heaving them off the ground, "Both of you! Shut. Up. I'll not have you fighting in front of the freggin' Hokage." Glancing at Kiba she added, "You. You get to wash the dishes after dinner." Then her gaze snapped around and she eyed Shikamaru, "And you, I'll let your father pick something you really don't like." Offering his dangling son to him with a smirk, Tsume added, "Maybe fifty pushups, Shikaku?"

Softly in the midst of all the chaos, Sasuke added, "I'm hungry." Those two words ended up being the impetus that finally got everyone moving towards the door. Apparently, the pressing concern of dinner trumped anything and everything else.


	10. Chapter 10

A week passed, then two, and frustratingly I wasn't making the progress I wanted to make. What the adults were trying to teach me was much harder than it sounded. One day, when I was particularly frustrated, Shikaku explained that it was difficult in part because I hadn't even fully grasped the basics yet.

"You're too hard on yourself, kid. It's only been two weeks - and you've already got a functioning grasp on the basics. I figured you would. It's not perfect, but some children - it takes them a year or more. Now that you've kind of figured out the absolute basics, we can't wait for you to completely master them. It's like you're a one-year-old, and we're trying to teach you how to swim just after you've had a crash course in crawling. Because, if you don't learn to swim, you're just going to straight up drown, and you'll never get the opportunity to walk." The older ninja explained as he watched the clouds shift slowly across the blue sky.

"So, yes, the solution is difficult, but without this, you'll never be allowed to graduate from the academy. You would be too much of a liability on a team. On the bright side, if you can master this, you'll have something that will make everything else you must learn in the academy and even beyond that look easy. Some ninja never fully master this."

The 'this' he was speaking about was chakra control. That was what I really had to learn, and not just the simple kind that would help me cling to trees or walk across water. What they were teaching me was on a whole other level. The shielding they had been talking about was basically building a very thin layer of my own chakra around my mind and eyes, and, if I was going to do that, I had to master chakra control first. If the chakra I used was too thin, it would be ineffective. If it was too thick, it would literally put pressure on my brain causing me to essentially faint after prolonged exposure. It was a spin on a technique Tsume used to shield against strong scents. However, coating your nasal cavity with too much chakra was only liable to give you a bad case of sinus pressure, maybe a nosebleed if you were really rough on yourself. In my case, I could probably cause brain damage or kill myself if I wasn't careful. Thus, it was crucial that I nailed chakra control training.

Once I had mastered controlling my chakra with the necessary skill, then I'd be taught how to create a basic shield that would allow me to just shut off my ability on command. Shikaku's long-term plan was for me to eventually refine this shielding technique so that I could selectively manipulate which sensations came in and which ones I blocked. I had a long ways to go to get there. Maybe years.

The biggest thing that was slowing down my training was that practicing controlling my chakra burned through a massive amount of chakra energy. I had become the poster child for what chakra exhaustion does to a person. Bluntly put, I was sleeping a whole heck of a lot.

I always got the furthest when training with Itachi. It wasn't because he was more skilled at teaching or explaining than Shikaku or Tsume. Instead, it was because, when my double vision started to act up, he'd just drag me into a genjutsu then drop me back out, and we would continue as if nothing at all were amiss. I suppose most people would be kind of peeved at getting dumped in and out of a series of genjutsus, but, for me, it was kind of soothing. I never even had to say anything. Itachi just always seemed to know when the pain from my headache was on the brink of being too much.

On the whole, most of what Tsume, Shikaku, and Itachi did during training was protect me from self-inflicted damage. I was strictly not supposed to practice unless one of them was close at hand. So, at the moment, I was sitting on Shikaku's porch trying to create evenly pressurized chakra between my hands. Easier said than done since I was struggling to even get the stuff out of my body and playing across my palms in a semi-consistent way.

Suddenly, I tipped over with a thunk as the chakra pressure in my right hand peaked unexpectedly and literally pushed me over. "Ow," I hissed as I pushed myself back up, rubbing at the palm of my left hand which was a bright red from taking the blast of chakra.

"You couldn't even do that at the start of the week. See? You're getting your chakra to come to your hands almost every time now. Keep working on pulling less energy. You don't need a lot - just an even, steady amount emanating from both palms. Once it's a bit more consistent, we'll have you move to Operation Nutcracker."

"Operation Nutcracker?"

"Yup!" Shikaku smirked. "Yoshino's bought a twenty-pound bag of nuts. Once you've gotten close to having even pressure, then I want you to try holding the nut in your hand - without cracking the nutshell. Then we'll move on to eggs and finally mochi. Once you get to the point of not squishing mochi balls with chakra, then I think you'll be close."

I sighed and slumped forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I cupped my chin in my hands. "Geh. This is gonna take a while, and I'm slightly disturbed that my brain is being compared to a mochi…"

"Pfft." The elder Nara snickered and rubbed a hand over his mouth as he glanced away, "Well, you're making fine progress, Nora."

"Mm, yeah. I just feel so tired all the time now…" It was the reason I was sitting with Shikaku on his back porch, fitfully trying to practice, and not playing with Chouji, Kiba, and Shikamaru this afternoon. They had all left for the playground hours ago, but I had been too exhausted to go with them.

Shikaku patted my head gently, "That's because of how much chakra you're using every day and because you're pushing yourself too hard just like you do in everything. You'll get used to it, and, soon, you'll also learn how to not overuse your chakra. One day, you'll no longer even miss the chakra you use to practice."

"I hope it's soon." I mumbled and then let out a huge yawn, "I want to do stuff besides eating, sleeping, and training."

Shikaku snickered softly. "Come on, kid. I know it goes against your nature as an Inuzuka, but go ahead and rest a little. Forcing yourself to stay awake does nothing."

"Mmmkay," I grumbled, letting the pressure of Shikaku's hand on my head tip me over onto his lap. Sleep came to me so quickly, it was almost like I had blacked out.

* * *

"Do you think it would be okay if she didn't train this coming Friday and Saturday? We've been pushing her hard." From within the haze of sleep, Itachi's voice seemed to intrude into my dreams.

"It's not entirely our fault, Itachi. Today was supposed to be a day off, but she insisted." Shikaku's calm voice answered, followed by a soft snicker. "Still, I think a break should be in order. Though I know she's hot to master this, if we don't slow her down, she may go into full-blown chakra exhaustion."

Tsume's voice followed his and added with a sniff, "Agreed."

"I have an offer then." Itachi's voice started off slowly. "Sasuke seems to like her, and I'd like Nora to come to my brother's birthday party this Saturday. I don't mind if we use it as an excuse to help curb her furor for a couple days."

"Well, as long as you're present, Itachi-kun, I don't see why not. Your father seems a bit put off by your time with my daughter. He made sure to imply as much when we met by chance outside the Hokage's office yesterday."

"No, it's not you, Tsume-san. My father, he is, well, he is being pushed by many voices in the clan. I'm not at liberty to say much more than that. However, I am free to make my own decisions apart from him, and I will do what I think is right."

"What did the head of the Uchiha Clan say to you, Tsume?"

"Something about how I was wasting his precious heir's time and about imposing on his son's kind nature to train a child of, uh, what did he say… Oh yeah! Dubious provenience. Child of dubious provenience, whatever the hell that means."

"That's a very polite way of calling her an orphan of unknown background, Tsume." Shikaku calmly replied.

"What?! That dirty, rotten son of a…" Clearing her throat, she coughed, "Sorry, kid, I don't mean it that way about your dad but…"

"No, no offense taken, Tsume-san. I'm sure it looks that way to him. I have purposefully left him ignorant of Nora's true value in deference to the Hokage's desire to keep the situation quiet. Outside of mitigating circumstances, this arrangement certainly would seem like a waste of my time."

"Still, a birthday party, huh?" Tsume chuckled faintly.

"I'm hoping that it will help my brother make friends. Sometimes, I feel my clan has become… insular. We tend to make friends and forge relationships strictly within the clan, and I want my brother to see something different than what the clan alone can offer. I used to think more like my father, but now, after seeing what other ninjas of Konoha are willing to sacrifice, I'm convinced that we are like a body that works best when all the pieces work together. To put it simply, if the Uchiha are the eyes, then the Inuzuka are the nose, and the Nara the brain… perhaps the Akimichi are the stomach." With a hint of laughter, the older boy added, "The example breaks down a bit beyond that, but the point is that together we are one entity. Konoha. The Will of Fire. And I think it a terrible thing to believe one does not need the other parts of the body to be strong."

"Well said, Itachi, well said." Shikaku chuckled then, and my resting spot shifted, "What time on Saturday?"

"Noon. And, if you don't mind me asking, do you know how I might get in touch with some more children in this age group?"

Tsume laughed loudly, "Let me and Yoshino handle that for you, kid. We'll get the word out to our friends who have children around the same age. I've got all those good mommy connections, and I don't mind using them. Think of it as repaying a minuscule amount of what I owe you for helping my little stray pup."

Suddenly, I was scooped up from my warm nest and draped over a shoulder. Wearily, I blinked a couple of times and reached out to wrap my arms around the neck of the person who had picked me up. I knew it was Tsume just by the musky scent of her hair. "Oy, kid, you still asleep?"

"Yes," I muttered into her neck, which earned me a trio of chuckles.

"Better take her home. She's been out like a light for the past two hours. The rest of the pack is at the park. Tell Shikamaru to get his butt back here for dinner."

Had it seriously been two hours? Tsume shifted me so that my weight rested on one of her arms as she turned to head out of the Nara compound, "No problem. I'll see you two later." Weariness stole over me, and my eyes slowly slipped closed before we were even out on the street.

* * *

"You get anything else out of my Dad?" Shikamaru asked right in my ear, making me jerk with surprise just before I glared over my shoulder at the grinning boy who snickered softly.

"Geez, at least give me some warning." I was having a semi-normal day today. Not because I wanted one, but because, yes, the threat of missing a birthday party due to chakra exhaustion was enough to get me to be a normal kid and just hang out at the playground with everyone else. I had priorities. Cake was among them.

"You normally would have noticed by now." Shikamaru leaned forward and peered at what I was building in the sandbox. "You're just not paying attention."

It was a statement which was synonymous with him saying that he knew I was tired. Granted, he was right. Even though I wasn't totally exhausted today, I was the only one hanging out at the sandbox, quietly building something instead of participating in our group's normal hijinks.

"I mean - look at what you're building. What even is that?"

Puffing out my cheeks at him for a moment, I clicked my tongue and muttered, "Yeah, you're right. Not sure. Let's call it a sand blob. I haven't gotten anything else out of your dad. His guard's up now. Same for my mom. They're actually paying attention to what they say in front of me for once."

Shikamaru and I had founded a mutual spy agreement after that one evening two weeks ago. The younger Nara had overheard just about everything. I apparently woke him when I got up, and the little creeper just decided to join in on my lurking. I really needed to start paying better attention to my surroundings.

"Eh. It's their own fault that they let their guard down in the first place. I think they just assumed we would sleep through the whole conversation. Or that even if we did wake up we wouldn't be interested in a boring adult discussion - you know? They'll probably keep closer tabs on us now. I think the Hokage was amused though."

"Amused? What do you mean?" I peered up at Shikamaru, pausing my sand moving to stare at him.

"Heh. You've never met the old man before, huh? He does this smirk and his eyes twinkle whenever he's amused by something. He probably knew we were listening in the whole time - even if the rest were too focused on their conversation to notice us."

The dark-haired boy's eyes suddenly grew serious as he added, "You learn anything more about Orochimaru? No ones explained the experiment part to you yet, have they?"

I shrugged in response. "It all happened when I was a baby. I think he was the one who dumped me in the woods. I'm probably lucky I can't remember." I grimaced at my own explanation as I let myself consider the possibilities of what sort of things could have been done. I was glad, in a way, that my first real memory in this form was as an infant in the woods, and not before that.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed into a dark glare and he wrinkled his nose before flicking my forehead lightly with his finger. "Don't think about it if you're going to make that expression. I don't like it."

"Ow." I griped, pressing the sandy palm of my hand to my forehead, but then I smiled faintly adding, "Okay, thanks, Shikamaru."

Just then a blur of blonde hair followed by another blur of brown hair pounded through the sandbox with no warning, throwing up sand in every direction. I didn't recognize the blonde, but the kid with brown hair behind him was my brother.

I shielded my eyes from the onslaught of sand, ducking down until the two boys left the sandbox. Lifting my head, I cringed as the two traded clumsy punches. Kiba shoved the blonde backward, and as the other kid fell he grabbed my brother. Then they both rolled down the embankment that made up the far perimeter of the playground.

Standing and shaking sand out of my shirt, I sighed as I looked over to see what had happened to the pair. There, at the bottom of the bank, the two were trading punches. "Geez. What the heck set him off this time?"

"Could be any number of things," Shikamaru muttered. "Friggin heck. I've even got sand in my underwear - now I'm going to itch until I get a bath tonight. Oy, Chouji - what's going on?"

"Eh." Chouji opened a fresh bag of chips as he walked over to join us. "It's that kid. You know - the troublemaker from the orphanage. Supposed to stay away from him, but Kiba got pissed at him acting weird and mopey on the swings and not taking turns." Sticking a handful of chips in his mouth, he crunched loudly as he continued to talk around the chips, "So, Kiba challenged him to a fight."

"Wasn't his name Naruto or something?" Shikamaru asked as he took a chip when Chouji offered first him and then me the bag in turn.

Taking a chip myself, I blinked at that name. Naruto? Now that sounded eerily familiar. Biting off a chunk of the chip, I chewed it slowly as I glanced back towards my brother's fight. Hadn't I written that word down in my journal recently? I'd have to look when I got back home.

"Think we should break it up?" I asked then stuck the rest of the chip in my mouth. Vinegar and salt flavor. Not bad.

"Nah. I don't want to get punched." Shikamaru crossed his arms across his chest.

"I'm kind of hungry," Chouji added, looking forlornly down at his suddenly empty bag of chips. "And I'm out of snacks…"

"Let's go get some ramen, then. I'm tired of this place, and I kind of hate sand now." Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets and trudged forward a few steps before glancing back at us.

Chouji and I both turned and grinned at each other, then we jogged the few steps to catch up with the Nara. "Ichiraku's, right?"

"Obviously!" Chouji replied to my question. "Mmm… I can taste it already."

"Kiba's going to hate us later." I laughed, rolling back onto my heels for an instant.

"Yup. But maybe next time he won't pick a fight."

"Ahh, Shikamaru… you have such high hopes for my brother." I laughed again, knowing full well that missing a little food would do nothing to stop him from being a hothead. For him, it was genetic.

A/N: It took me longer than anticipated to get this chapter done. There was lots of editing for consistency and clarity since this is kind of a bridge chapter into the next section. Hopefully, I found all of my errors. This is now the longest chapter in the story so far!


	11. Chapter 11

The morning of the party Hana was mysteriously busy training and left the house before we were even done with breakfast. It was largely Kiba's fault for picking on her about having a crush on Itachi. That same morning, Tsume informed us that we were going to walk to the party on our own. She had plans to go drinking with several of the other mothers while their children were at the same party. Apparently, her offer to help Itachi find more invitees wasn't entirely altruistic.

As for Kiba, he was still angry at me for ditching him at the playground to run off with Shikamaru and Chouji. He had complained bitterly all last night and the whining had continued into this morning, following behind me through breakfast like a particularly incessant little grey raincloud.

However, my biggest problem wasn't dealing with my brother's bad attitude. It was figuring out what one wears to a ninja clan kid's birthday party. A frilly dress seemed way too fussy - plus I didn't own a single dress or even a yukata. The everyday clothes I wore for training seemed too informal, but I had little else. By the end of the morning, my clothing indecision had manifested itself in tops and pants strewn across the room Kiba and I shared.

I frowned and gave a bitter sigh as I held up another generic tan shirt.

"What's taking so long?" Kiba watched me with a scowl as I tossed the shirt over my head into the ever-growing pile, "Just pick something!"

"Argh. You don't understand. See. Look." I pulled out two shirts and held them up, "Is red or purple cuter?"

With a groan, he muttered, "I dunno... Meh. Go with red. Purple will make you look like that blonde girl."

"Ino?"

"Yeah, her. Red is definitely better."

"Okay! See? Red is cuter! You just said it!" Indecision solved, I rooted through clothes and shoes, changing as I went until I had cobbled together an outfit with an oversized red shirt over black shorts and matching ninja sandals for my feet. Then I braided up my hair and tied it back with a bit of red ribbon before peeking into the mirror behind the door. Hmm. It wasn't bad. "Whatcha think?!"

I spun around and grinned at Kiba who shrugged in response, "It's fine."

"Just fine? It's not cute? Should I wear something else?"

"Ugh. No! Stop! You're cute, and if anyone says differently I'll … um… punch them!"

"But mom said you'd get in trouble if you got in another fight…"

"Yeah, whatever." He hopped off the bed with a scowl and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the front door before I could argue further. "Come on. We're already late."

* * *

Finding our way to the party ended up being a team effort. Kiba was in such a bad mood that he insisted on leading the way, but he got lost and had to backtrack to a part of town that we knew better. From there, I was able to find the street that lead towards the Uchiha compound, and once we were far enough away from the overpowering scents emanating from food stalls, we relied on Kiba's nose to guide us the rest of the way by following the siren scent of sugary treats. Even so, we only just barely arrived on time. Tsume had picked out something for us to give to the younger Uchiha heir, and we left the dubiously wrapped, lumpy package (it looked like she'd had the ninken wrap it) on the table just inside the gate of the house.

There were already plenty of children gathered in the Uchiha's courtyard with a loosely organized game of Catch The Missing Nin - which was a like tag, but, in this game, you would chase one person chosen as the Missing-Nin and then whoever tagged the Missing-Nin became the next Missing-Nin. The game generally continued until either everyone was exhausted or someone stormed off in a huff. Basically, it was a game of pure chaos.

Most of the children present I recognized. I had met nearly all the other clan kids around my age due to encounters at the park or play dates set up between the families. Our parents were all around the same age and a good portion of them had attended the academy and fought in at least one of the previous world wars together. They might have been ninja, but they were also completely normal parents who liked to sit around and talk about the past, their child raising problems, and grumble about their mutual boss, the Hokage, while their children occasionally played nicely together. The biggest exceptions to this were the Uchihas and the Hyuugas who, as a whole, were both deeply traditional and extremely insular. So, it went without saying that this was an unusual event.

"Shikamaru! Chouji!" Kiba yelled and stormed off into the courtyard. I stumbled, nearly falling on my face as he dragged me by my hand behind him. Yup. He still hadn't forgiven me. "You guys ditched me!"

"Hey, guys." I used Kiba's arm to steady myself, as I stumbled to a stop behind my brother. If Shikamaru's snicker was any indication, I probably looked a little stunned and flustered.

Shino, who was standing alongside the two other boys, merely offered a silent nod, while Chouji's silent greeting was of a different sort as he grinned, showing off a mouth full of cake.

"Heh. I see you survived your fight yesterday." Shikamaru gave the two of us a crooked grin but then turned his sharp eyes onto my brother.

"No thanks to you." Kiba snarled faintly at the Nara, "Not that I needed a sister stealer like you to beat a wimp like that."

"Exactly. You didn't need us." Shikamaru shrugged as he raised a brow at Kiba, "And we were bored just standing there."

"You should have waited for me!"

"I assumed you would find us afterward. Isn't that what your nose is for?"

"Come on guys, don't fight. Let's talk about the food cause this cake is amazing!" Chouji gushed as he finally swallowed his mouthful. "Like the best cake ever."

"It's an Uchiha cake," Shikamaru replied with a shrug.

"And they would never serve anything less than the best," I added, a quick grin pulling at my lips as I let myself fall into my usual easy banter with Shikamaru. This was probably why he snickered even when I glared. He knew that, unlike my brother, I was never actually angry. "Honestly, Chouji, probably all the food is going to be really damn good."

The chubby boy's eyes widened as he turned to give the food table a hungry, open-mouthed stare.

Kiba's face twisted in a scowl, "You lot left without a word, and I didn't know where Nora was."

"Nora can take care of herself." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "And what was I going to do, huh? Tap you on the shoulder between punches and be like … we're getting ramen, catch up with us later? That's completely illogical."

"This entire argument seems faintly illogical." Shino calmly commented, which earned him a sigh and a slow nod out of Shikamaru.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the younger of the Uchiha boys sprinted out of the crowd of children with a flustered look on his face. Sasuke gave the four of us a wide, wild-eyed look and then ducked into the middle of what had been quickly turning into a simmering standoff between my brother and Shikamaru as he gasped. "I need to hide. There's this weird girl."

"The hell?" Kiba muttered.

"Eh?" Shikamaru asked, his nose crinkling as he added, "Is this for a game?"

"Oh, thank goodness, another girl." Just then, Ino suddenly appeared behind Kiba and me.

Releasing Kiba's arm, I turned towards her as I heard Sasuke hiss out in a whisper from behind me, "No. That."

With a flick, she sent her long blonde hair back over her shoulder. "There are soooo many boys here, Nora. Why are there so many boys in our age group anyway? Why aren't there more girls? But the birthday boy's kind of cute. Did you happen to see him come by here? And, eww, Chouji, could you like - close your mouth? Half-chewed food is disgusting, and… ugh, Shino, why are there so many bugs here? Let's go someplace nicer, Nora. Without the boys." She pointed an accusatory finger first at Chouji and then reached to grab my hand.

I looked down at my hand and then over my shoulder at Chouji who was starting to tear up. Then I bit back a sigh and pulled back my hand. "No thanks, Ino. I'm good here."

"Wha? Wait," Ino smirked and then snickered, "You like being around Chubby, Stinky, Buggy, and Sleepy here?"

I offered her a shrug as I replied, "Yes. You can refer to me a Bitey."

Shikamaru snickered at my comment, and I swear Shino gave a small snort, ducking his head lower into the raised collar of his jacket. Chouji shivered and added, "She's vicious when she bites, too. I have scars!"

"Yeah! Besides, you can't have her to yourself. Where Nora goes, I go! You got that, guys?" Kiba jumped into the conversation, half stepping in front of me to block the blonde girl coming any closer, but the last part was obviously directed at the other boys. Kiba was sometimes a bit too much like a dog - especially when he decided to let his possessive streak show.

"Ugh! You seriously smell like dog, Kiba. Do you ever bathe?"

"Um, Ino, you really should…" I tried to break into the conversation, but things just began to deteriorate even further as Kiba snarled at the blonde.

"And you smell like a flower barfed on you! Disgusting!"

To be honest, I felt a bit torn. I really didn't enjoy Ino's company. She was often too quick to point out the flaws of others, but I also had a vested interest in kind of keeping things civil. After all, I was going to have to go to school with her - like it or not.

I sighed, and my eyes slid in the direction of the food table as I began to work out an escape route. Sasuke had ended up hidden behind a wall of Chouji, Shikamaru, and Shino. If Ino had been using an ounce of her brain, she could have figured out the Uchiha's hiding place easily because the three boys were pressed together in the most obviously awkward way ever. As long as she stayed distracted, he was safe. In life, just like in shogi, sometimes sacrifices had to be made.

Glancing at Shikamaru, I mouthed the word, 'Go.' Then before he could so much as respond, I turned and butted into the trading of insults between her and Kiba, "Um, Ino, your clothes are nice."

"They are aren't they?" She broke off and giggled as she spun around showing off her little purple-flowered yukata. "But you, Nora. Why'd you wear that? Aren't those normal training clothes? I mean, seriously, Nora, what is Tsume thinking?! What does she do, let the dogs raise you and Kiba for her?"

Ironically, that jab was closer to the truth than I cared to publicly admit. Tsume trusted the ninken to babysit us more than most humans. I pressed my lips together and frowned. Behind me, I could see the trio of boys safely shuffling Sasuke away, so I continued on, "We're Inuzukas, so, yeah. We're pretty much raised by wild dogs."

Suddenly a hand settled on top of my head, and another wrapped around Kiba's mouth, cutting him off as he took a deep breath to launch into a fresh string of insults. My gaze snapped up to meet Itachi's dark eyes. "Raised by dogs? Hmm, perhaps I have underestimated the ability of ninken since it seems they've done an excellent job. I would say, Nora, that you're wearing appropriate attire for a party filled with future ninja, and I can tell you did dress up. This isn't what you normally wear to training. Red suits you. On the other hand, a yukata is… rather a poor choice."

I could feel my ears flushing at his compliment, but I wasn't the only one going red. Kiba's face was turning new shades of angry crimson as he tried to break free of Itachi's grip, and Ino's face was flushing too in what was either frustration or anger. A moment later the blonde began to stutter before finally spitting out, "I-I-I'm going to change clothes!" I watched in stunned silence as she stormed off in the direction of the gate.

"Damn straight, you better change clothes!" Kiba yelled after her as he got his mouth free for a moment before Itachi silenced him again.

"You made her mad on purpose," I commented as I turned to look up at the older boy.

"Yes. I thought that I ought to help you - seeing as you were helping my brother, Nora-san." Itachi smiled, his eyes squinting shut for a moment. Then his smile faded as he added, "Besides, nothing I said was untrue. If she wishes to be a ninja, she must learn to dress like one."

Now that Ino was out of sight, he released Kiba with a snap of his hand, and my brother spun around to face the Uchiha. "I wasn't done arguing with her!"

"So I gathered." Itachi replied cooly, "You seem to be arguing with everyone today. Is there some problem with your friends as well?"

"Yeah! Those guys went off without me yesterday and took Nora. I didn't know where they were. I was worried."

"Do you not trust your friends?" Itachi narrowed his eyes briefly, fixing Kiba with a mirthless stare, "Do you honestly believe that they would not help your sister if she needed them?"

"Well, no, but that's not it! I want to be the one who helps her. Not them." Kiba stomped his foot for emphasis, balling his hands into fists as he glowered up at the older boy.

"So you would rather Nora-san gets hurt than have someone else help her? That's what you have just said, Kiba-kun. If you can't help her, then no one can help her. It would be better if she gets hurt."

"But, that's … that's not what I mean!"

"Yes, I know, but that is what you are saying by arguing about this issue with your friends. Even when you were distracted, they took care of your sister. After all, they could have just left her alone, waiting for you to finish your fight. If Nora-san had needed you then, you wouldn't have noticed. True friends are those who compensate for your weakness. You should be thanking them."

"I guess that kind of makes sense, but I still don't like it, Itachi-san. Hey - wait - where'd the guys go?!" Now that his anger had begun to ease, Kiba was only just realizing that the rest had beat a hasty retreat.

"The food table. They helped Sasuke escape while we kept Ino occupied." I offered as a small smile crept its way across my lips.

"Oh, huh! I hadn't even noticed! Yo, Itachi-san. You going to play ninja with us?" Kiba spun back to beam up at Itachi. It was like someone had flipped a switch in my brother's brain, and the raging anger from a moment prior was simply gone.

"Perhaps, Kiba-kun. We'll start the games shortly. There are a few more guests we are waiting for." Itachi's lips curled faintly at the corners as he used both hands to shoo us over to the food table. "Go ahead with Nora-san and get some food."

Kiba flashed a wide grin and stuck out a thumb, "Okay, Itachi-san!"

With that, Itachi headed towards the gate, and I found myself herding Kiba the rest of the way to the food table.

"Hey, Nora?"

"Yeah, Kiba-tan?"

"Why does Itachi call you san instead of chan?"

"Um." I blinked and stuck out my lower lip at my brother's question. I honestly hadn't even noticed until Kiba pointed it out. Finally, I offered him a shrug as we caught up with the rest of the boys, "I don't know."

"I mean, I'm older than you. So he should use san with my name, too."

As we arrived at the table, Sasuke appeared next to me with a cake filled plate and a very serious expression, "Thank you, Nora-san."

"Argh, no! She's Nora-chan. Chan! Get it right, dobe." Kiba exclaimed in another sudden outburst that had us all staring at him as he picked up a plate and messily slapped a slice of cake on it.


End file.
